Jesse Owens, the 1936 Berlin Olympics hero, has broken another world record, with the sale of his gold medal for $1,466,574, becoming the most expensive piece of Olympic memorabilia.
The sprinter and long jumper was part of a defining historical period in sport. After dominating all his events at the Berlin Olympics and taking home four gold medals, he also upset the expected German dominance, in a games overseen by Hitler and the Nazi regime.
To add insult to injury to the Nazi ideal, Owens didn’t fit the supposedly supreme Aryan mould being an African American athlete.
Since Owens’ death in 1980, the wife of dancer and movie star Bill “Bojangles” Robinson put the item up for auction.
“They formed a friendship and also a professional relationship. Bojangles helped Owens get work in the entertainment field; Owens gave him this medal out of gratitude and as a token of their friendship” SCP Auctions partner Dan Imler said.
Despite returning to the States a hero, Owens was declared bankrupt just three years after the games.
Marlene Owens Rankin , daughter of Jesse Owens, said that “when they came back, the U.S. was just as it was when he left – segregated. Even though he came back an Olympic hero, he wasn’t offered opportunities that Olympic heroes of today are offered.”
Since the medal was put up for auction it received a total of 30 bids, with the winning bid smashing the previous record by Spyros Louis, the Greek who won the first Olympic marathon at Athens 1896.
The mystery auction winner paid £897,445 in English money, and will now be the proud owner of the only surviving medal of the four Owens won at the Berlin 1936 Olympics.
