How to be the Fastest Man on the Planet: Jesse Owens & “Race”

(starting gun fires)

(cymbals crescendo)

Jesse had a big love for running

and that's the biggest most important thing to him.

I definitely had to go into all the training

needed to play the fastest man on the planet.

Go!

(timer clock ticking)

He was not one to boast about what he did.

But he did believe in and sustain good physical condition

and at the peak of his career, he trained constantly.

And he firmly believed you set goals for yourself.

And you strive to believe in yourself.

You want me to do it again?

Ya.

[Voiceover] I think I was running the hundred

in just over 12 seconds, something like that.

I got much better while making this film, I gotta say that.

I will say, you can run.

What I want to know is, can you win?

His coach, Larry's techniques were innovative for the time

and it helped correct his posture, it shaved off

point two seconds here, point three seconds there.

[Voiceover] Jesse Owens sets the new world record.

It was a God given talent and he was helped to develop

that talent and to hone it to a fine point.

But they had something to work with.

You wanna win a gold medal?

Sure.

You wanna do it in Berlin?

He won a number of gold medals in Berlin,

in front of Hitler.

[Voiceover] The Buckeye Bullet took gold medals

in three events.

Hitler was to snub Owens as he did almost

all of the American winners.

He did not go to meet Hitler, or to shake Hitler's hand.

He went to run, and that's what he did, and he proved

to the world that he could come home with four gold medals.

He just did what he did based on

the strength of love for his sport.

(dramatic music)

Now he's just showing off.

He was certainly a man who wanted change,

having lived through what he lived through.

I got people looking at me for an example.

I don't care about any of that!

Yeah well you're white, Larry! You don't have to!

I think it's certainly important that people are

having this sort of a discussion.

You know, any time we have the discussion,

it's always a healthy thing.

He didn't just change the sport,

Jesse changed the world with that mentality.

(rousing African music)

[Voiceover] For those 10 seconds you are completely free.

When I look at a guy like him, who was able

to go over to Berlin, Germany and accomplish what he did

you think, if Jesse Owens could do it, I could do it.