Although it is only in the last forty years that Black men have achieved total dominance in the hundred meters, underlying racist sentiments about the physicality of Black athletes are much older. In 1936, James Cleveland Owens (better known as Jesse on account of his Alabama pronunciation of his initials) carved out one of the greatest athletic achievements of all time by winning Olympic gold in the hundred meters, two hundred meters, four-by-one-hundred-meter relay, and the long jump.
