It's a cool and cloudy morning, August 2nd, 1936.

We're in Berlin, Germany, at the Hysh Sports Field Stadium, where Jesse Owens is doing his best to stay warm before his first race.

Much is expected of the lean, muscular, and handsome athlete.

Setting world records in tracking fields since high school, Jesse has only continued to do so as an Ohio State University student.

In fact, just last year, he set three world records and tied a fourth within

45 minutes. Cap. Jesse, aka. The Buckeye Bullet, or the Black Bullet, the Brown Bolt, the American

Thunderbolt, or The Midnight Express, as the press variously calls the Black College athlete, is truly in a league of his own.

But the humble, hard-working son of an Alabama sharecropper is never one to take things for granted.

Hence, his dutiful warm-ups, while patiently waiting for the 12th and final heat, his heat in the 100-meter dash.

Just before noon, Jesse steps onto the track.

Like his competitors from Belgium, Malta, Brazil, and Japan,

he takes his lane and lets his fingers sink into the cinder surface,

preparing to launch himself with a crouch start.

And then, powerful, gracefully,

effortlessly, Jesse flies down the track, leaving the other sprinters in the dust to tear through the tape in 10.3 seconds. He's just tied the world and Olympic wreck. The German crowd goes wild. What a relief. Jesse came to these games in Nazi Germany

unsure what to expect, so this is most welcome. Nonetheless, the situation remains fraught. Actually,

Jesse's got a long bus ride to and from the Olympic Village, and we regretfully won't catch

him again until his 100-meter final race tomorrow.

So let me fill you in on the controversy surrounding the Berlin Olympic Games while we wait.

First, the International Olympic Committee didn't intentionally choose the capital of Nazi

Germany.

No. When the committee chose

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