Watching the Olympics is like watching amazing physical feats unfold before your eyes. Bars are set, limits are broken, and every person who got there has a story of perseverance and dedication, but the one which appealed most to me was the story of Usain Bolt.
Usain Bolt was born in Jamaica August 21, 1986 with a severe spinal condition. Even then he didn’t let that hold him back. As he was he was growing up he started become an all-around athlete that excelled in every sport but had a particular interest in badminton. He had always been exceedingly exceptional at running and participated many youth tournaments but until one of his coaches took him under his wing and began to train him he began to thrive in the event. It was then that his actual success began but that is also when the critics came as well. In Jamaica sprinting is a very serious sport and not without a reason many Jamaican sprinters have gotten at least one medal in the careers and many of them broke world records. At the time Usain Bolt became part of the Jamaican track and field team he had a lot track stars that h...
The athlete I chose is Natasha Watley. She is a professional softball player and the first African-American female to play on the USA softball team in the Olympics. She’s a former collegiate 4-time First Team All-American who played for the UCLA Bruins, the USA Softball Women’s National Team, and for the USSSA Pride. She helped the Bruins will multiple championships and also holds numerous records and one of the few players to bat at least .400 with 300 hits, 200 runs, and 100 stolen bases. She’s also the career hits leader in the National Pro Fast pitch. She won the gold medal in the 2004 summer Olympics and a silver in the Beijing Olympics. She was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014.
James Cleveland Owens otherwise known as “Jesse” was an Olympic long jumper and sprinter whose speed and inspirational defiance of Hitler shocked the world. The 1936 Olympics were held in Berlin and Adolf Hitler of the Nazi party believed that these Olympic Games would showcase the great skill of the Aryan (Caucasian) race, and the last person he would expect to show him up would be an African-American man (Barnes 1). With sixty-six U.S. Olympic contestants competing in the Games, the American race was really put on the spot in front of Hitler, the most powerful man in the world (Smith 1). Jesse Owens was one of these men, and while being laughed at by Hitler during his one hundred meter sprint against six other Caucasian sprinters, he won by a landslide. With that victory and his other three Olympic gold medals the Owens name was able to be remembered and looked up to for eternity. Jessie Owens is such a great athlete and individual because he defied Adolf Hitler, achieved more than expected of himself, and broke records with ease.
The Olympics take place every two years and allow athletes from all over the world to compete against other Olympians. These individuals are given the world’s stage as large television and radio stations broadcast the games all over the globe and are allowed the opportunity to demonstrate their world-class skill as they compete against others with good sportsmanship and respect. Jimmy Carter’s boycott took away the once in a lifetime opportunity for many athletes to preform at the highest level of competition. Renaldo Nehemiah is one example of an athlete whose opportunity to compete in the Olympics was stolen by the boycott. Before the 1980 Olympics, Nehemiah was expected to win the gold medal in the hurdles. Nehemiah states, "Nothing was accomplished by our boycott in 1980." He said, "It was very disheartening, using sport as a way to achieve political ends. . . . It was difficult for me personally. I was 21 years old and the best in the world, but I 've never walked into an Olympic stadium as an athlete, and that 's still hard. It took a lot of years before I could even talk about it." The strong reactions of the athletes to Jimmy Carter’s decision to boycott the games shows that he didn’t have the support of the people who were the most important to the games, the athletes.
Robinson, Mark D. Ph. D. “Every Black Kid Should Strive to Be a Professional Athlete”.
During his high school years, he dominated the track-and-field sport, which was the only sport he was allowed to do. Ray was so good that he even tried out for the 1928 Olympics as a 400meter runner. He came in fourth place, making it into Canada’s team. He didn’t get to compete, however, as a white runner was favoured the place. That didn’t stop him from going to university, and he went to the Milwaukee’s Marquette University in Wisconsin, USA. There, he was able to keep running as part of the Central Relay Team that won the United States National Schoolboy Championships in 1928 and 1929. From there, he was able to be the National Track and Field Champion in 1929. After his university education, he had to go back to Canada to become a porter.
Can you imagine embarrassing the infamous Adolf Hitler in front of the whole world? Jesse Owens did that in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It was not an easy road for him to get there, but he did it by putting enough effort and hard work forward. Jesse Owens was able to overcome racial judgment by surviving a poverty struck childhood, training hard in school, and by winning the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Jesse Owens, also known as “The Buckeye Bullet,” was known for being one of the greatest track and field, African American runners in the 20th century. Jesse was sick a lot when he was a child, but he still had to work to help his family. When Jesse was 9 years old, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio and found out there was a difference between how he was being treated in Ohio and how he was treated where he lived down south. Jesse attended the Ohio State University and went on to break many
In East Africa, there is an area know as the Great Rift Valley. It is in this Great Rift Valley, where the world’s most dominant long distance runners come from, Kenya. In the past three decades, runners from Kenya have simply dominated the sport of long distance running in all facets including cross-country, track, and the marathon. In the world rankings for marathon running, Kenyans hold 8 of the top 10 spots for the men and 6 of the top ten spots in women’s rankings. (Entine, Par. 2) But how can one country be so overpowering in a sport that anyone can participate in? There are a number of factors that all work together to make Kenyan runners the best of the best. Rigorous training regimens, the physical geography of Kenya, country and world support of the athletes, genetics and early participation of children are all factors in the study of why Kenyan runners are by far the best long distance runners in the world. To start off, you must look at the physical geography in which the Kenyans train.
In the 1988 Summer Olympics, an unbelievable feat occurred. The feat happened during one of the premiere events, the 100 meter dash. The event was set up to be a great race between Carl Lewis of the United States and Ben Johnson of Canada. This did not happen. Ben Johnson blew away the field running a 9.79, a world record. Carl Lewis finished a distant second with a 9.88 ("Ben Johnson").
The “John Carlos Story” is a book about the struggles of growing up black in America at a time when much of the nation was still segregated. John Carlos was a member of the “Olympic Project for Human Rights.” After winning the bronze medal, John Carlos and a friend and teammate, Tommy Smith, who won the gold medal, raised their fists in opposition of racial inequality and in unity of civil rights. This book shows examples of sociology in everyday life which can be explained through theories and concepts, which centers mainly on the event surrounding their win at the Olympic Games.
... is a muscular physique, which is closely tied to his physical capabilities. In order to win athletic events, one must have a body capable of doing so. The image of the ideal body often portrayed by the media is wide-shouldered with a prominent chest and large, defined arms and moving from the chest to the waist, the body forms a “V’ shape (Denham and Duke 111). These “images of male perfection are reinforced when male athletes use their bodies for hitting, dunking, tackling, and running, receiving millions of dollars, media attention, and fan adoration for their efforts” (Denham and Duke 111). The images and body types depicted in the media then permeate society, creating one form of masculinity that is set apart from the rest.
Born in Oakville, Alabama on September 12, 1913, James Cleveland Owens would prove to be one of the greatest athletes of his time. He was the seventh child born to Henry Cleveland and Emma Alexander Owens. Being that Owens was the son of a sharecropper, a grandson of a slave and an African-American, he was treated with disrespect and indecency (Trust 1). “J.C.”, as people called him, was not born into fame and a luxurious lifestyle; however his determination and willingness to succeed made his family background seem inconsequential. Defying the beliefs of racism during his time, James Owens (later known as Jesse) was one of the first men to change the way people viewed athletes of his kind, but more importantly the people of his race.
As a son of a sharecropper and grandson of a slave, Jesse Owens created History in 1936 when he achieved what no athlete had done before: four Olympic Gold Medals. (jesseowens.com). During this era, the United States had limited civil rights and was approaching a World War with Hitler rising into power in Germany. Although Owens was victorious on the track, because of the color of his skin, He was looked down upon and unrecognized by even his own country. Through the excessive racism, one may ask how Owens moved forward and dealt with such negativity in a situation that should have been celebrated.
When Bolt ran the 100-meters for the first time at the international level he won a gold medal with a time of 10.03. At Bolt’s first meet in 2008, he smashed his personal record in the 100-meters with a new time of 9.76 seconds ("Usain Bolt Biography." JockBio). His next big meet of that year was the Olympic Games in Beijing, China where he ran a 9.69 seconds in the 100-meters setting a new world record and winning a gold medal. Bolt then went on to win the 200-meters at the same Olympic Games with a world record breaking time of 19.30 seconds and winning yet another gold medal. He also set another record in the 4 by 100-meters relay to win another gold medal ("Usain Bolt Biography." JockBio). By the time the 2012 Olympics rolled around, people were already expecting Bolt to break more records, and he did not disappoint. Bolt smashed the Olympic record with a time of 9.63 in the 100-meters. He also finished with a 19.84 in the 200-meters. Although it was not a new record, Bolt still won a gold medal in the event along with a gold in the 4 by 100-meters relay ("Usain Bolt Biography." JockBio). At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Bolt once again won gold medals in both the 100-meters and the 200-meters. He also won gold in the 4 by 100-meters relay. After these games, Bolt has decided to be done with his sprinting career (“Usain Bolt Biography.” The Famous
The history of sports goes back since ancient times. It has been a useful way for people to explore nature and their environment. Sports include different activities and games such as football, soccer, basketball, and etc. to express their skills and talents. Also, sports are a way to relax and have fun; but are sports all our African Americans rely on? The dream to become future sports stars. The reason why Gates begins his essay with an anecdote is to show and compare how many african-american athletes were at work today and how little the chances of African-Americans becoming athletes are compared to being a lawyer, dentist, or even a doctor. African-Americans assume that they are born athletes and it’s because the school system doesn’t teach them reality and educate them to undertake more realistic goals for careers.