The games have begun, but African American Jesse Owens shatters Hitler's dreams of Aryan supremacy, or did he? The Berlin Olympics were strange, but partly they are strange because the story we tell of them now is not the story told at the time.

If you’d like more Sports Bizarre, become a member of Bizarre Plus.

Click here to join today

As a member, you’ll get:

• A weekly bonus podcast
• Access to all past episodes
• Exclusive behind-the-scenes access
• A fortnightly newsletter
• Access to the members-only chatroom
• Ability to vote on future episodes
• Early access to any live show tickets

Resources

I went through a mountain of stuff on this topic, but books that stand out an are worth reading if you want to know more are Hitler's Olympics: The 1936 Berlin Olympic Games by Christopher Hilton, Berlin 1936: Sixteen Days in August by Oliver Hilmes and Power Games: A Political History of the Olympics by Jules Boykoff.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.