thebaldian: lutz long
Carl Ludwig Lutz Long was born in Leipzig on the 27th of April, 1913.
He won the silver medal in the long jump at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. The gold medal was won by Jesse Owen, thanks to Lutz Long.
In an attempt to ensure that an Arian athlete won the gold, the judges ha d red-flagged the black competitor Owens’s first two jumps.
Long approached Owens and sportingly suggested that he started his jump from a couple of centimetres further back. Owens did as reco mmended and won the gold medal with that last jump.
Lutz Long, in defiance to the regimen, was the first to congratulate the champion and he also posed with him for the photographers covering the event. After the Olympics, they began to exchange correspondence.
During the Second World War, the Nazis as a rule didn’t send elite athletes to the front. However, Long’s Luftwaffe squadron were sent to the Sicilian front.
On the 13th of July, 1943 he was shot down and later died from his wounds at the British field hospital in San Pietro Clarenza, in Sicily.
After the war Owens travelled to Germany to meet his friend’s family. ¨All the gold medals I won are worth not hing alongside the friendship we shared” he said.
He won the silver medal in the long jump at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. The gold medal was won by Jesse Owen, thanks to Lutz Long.
In an attempt to ensure that an Arian athlete won the gold, the judges ha d red-flagged the black competitor Owens’s first two jumps.
Long approached Owens and sportingly suggested that he started his jump from a couple of centimetres further back. Owens did as reco mmended and won the gold medal with that last jump.
Lutz Long, in defiance to the regimen, was the first to congratulate the champion and he also posed with him for the photographers covering the event. After the Olympics, they began to exchange correspondence.
During the Second World War, the Nazis as a rule didn’t send elite athletes to the front. However, Long’s Luftwaffe squadron were sent to the Sicilian front.
On the 13th of July, 1943 he was shot down and later died from his wounds at the British field hospital in San Pietro Clarenza, in Sicily.
After the war Owens travelled to Germany to meet his friend’s family. ¨All the gold medals I won are worth not hing alongside the friendship we shared” he said.
