Flanked by bronze medalist Naoto Tajima of Japan (left) and Germany’s Lutz Long, Jesse Owens saluted the American flag as the Star-Spangled Banner was played during his gold medal ceremony for the long jump at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
fyi: Long won the silver medal for second place and was the first to congratulate Owens: they posed together for photos and walked arm-in-arm to the dressing room. Owens said, “It took a lot of courage for him to befriend me in front of Hitler… You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn’t be a plating on the twenty-four karat friendship that I felt for Luz Long at that moment”
(via minifreak)
