In 1936, the Berlin Olympics were meant to promote Nazi ideas about racial superiority. What actually happened was very different. Jesse Owens took center stage, winning four gold medals and silencing those claims through his performance. Yet one of the most powerful moments of the Games didn’t happen on the podium. Owens’ friendship with German athlete Luz Long showed that sport could rise above politics, revealing a shared humanity that no amount of propaganda could fully suppress. | Vault of