Families for Owens, Long watch long jump from box where Hitler once sat for ‘36 Olympics

Families for Owens, Long take in long jump final

BERLIN — The families of Jesse Owens and Luz Long took in the long jump final Saturday at the world championships from the box where Adolf Hitler once sat for the 1936 Olympics.

It was inside the Olympic Stadium, with Hitler looking on, that Long, the German long jump great, famously befriended Owens.

The American stole the show in ‘36 and made a mockery of Nazi claims of Aryan supremacy, becoming the first U.S. track athlete to win four golds at one Olympics.

Just to be in the stadium touched Marlene Hemphill Dortch, the granddaughter of Owens. The 45-year-old Dortch didn’t realize she was sitting in Hitler’s box until shortly before the competition began.