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News20 Aug 2009


Owens and Long families to meet at Owens exhibition in Berlin

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Jesse Owens (R) and Luz Long (L) chat together in the Berlin stadium 1 August 1936 during the Olympic Games (© AFP / Getty Images)

At 10:30 a.m. on Friday, 21 August, Jesse Owens’ granddaughter, Marlene Dortch, and her husband will visit the exhibition “Jesse Owens – A Sports Hero” in the Berlin Sports Museum.

A delegation of the USA Track & Field team will be attending as well. The US team is competing this year with the initials “J.O.” on their official jerseys – with special permission from the IAAF – which marks the continued high honour paid to the great icon who became a legend at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.

Kai Long, the son of Luz Long, Jesse Owens’ opponent in the Long Jump in 1936, will also be visiting with his wife Ragna and daughter Julia-Vanessa. They will be landing at Berlin's Tegel Airport at 9:25 a.m. and will be brought directly to the museum.

Berlin’s Senator of the Interior and of Sport, Dr. Ehrhart Körting, will also be in attendance, as will Pam deVolder, Acting Cultural Attaché, of the U.S. Embassy in Berlin.

The 2004 Olympic champion in the Long Jump, Dwight Phillips of the USA, visited the Owens exhibition three days ago with a television crew. He demonstrated his bond with Owens in front of the photographs from 1936, and stopping at the photo of Owens and Long, he made special note of the sporting friendship between the two.

It is quite extraordinary how the performance by Owens still has a lasting effect on the American athletes of today.

Jill Geer, USA Track & Field's Chief Public Affairs Officer, will be presenting an official jersey from the US team to be contributed to the collection.

Berlin Sports Museum – “AIMS Marathon Museum of Running”
Haus des Deutschen Sports
Olympiapark Berlin,
Adlerplatz
Hanns-Braun-Straße,
14053 Berlin

AIMS for the IAAF
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