31+ Jesse Owens Quotes From The Iconic Track And Field Athlete

Jesse Owens was a famous American track and field athlete who won four gold medals in the Olympics of 1939.

Jesse Owens specialized in sprints and the long jump and was known worldwide as one of the best talents in the history of track and field athletes. His heroics in the world of athletics is the stuff of legends.

James Cleveland Owens, also known as Jesse Owens, was born on 12 September 1913, in Oakville, Alabama, USA. He was born to Mary Emma Ezgerald and Henry Cleveland Owens. He first achieved national attention when he was a student of the Cleveland Technical School, where he matched the record of 9.4 seconds in the 100-yard dash, and he achieved a long jump of 24 feet and 9.5 inches (7.56m) at the 1933 National High School Championship in Chicago.

We have gathered the best Jesse Owens quotes to inspire any budding athletes out there. From Jesse Owens quotes about training to Jesse Owens quotes about running, and more general Jesse Owens quotes about life, there are Jesse Owens quotes for everyone on this list!

If you like these Jesse Owens quotes and are keen to find more quotes, you can also take a look at these track and field quotes and Wilma Rudolph quotes.

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Are you looking for a little bit of inspiration today? These Jesse Owens quotes on life are so real and might just inspire you to achieve something special!

1. "The thrill of competing carries with it the thrill of a gold medal. One wants to win to prove himself the best."

- Jesse Owens.

2. "We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort."

- Jesse Owens.

3. "Find the good. It's all around you. Find it, showcase it, and you'll start believing in it."

- Jesse Owens.

4. "A lifetime of training for just ten seconds."

- Jesse Owens.

5. "Life doesn't give you all the practice races you need."

- Jesse Owens.

6. "Championships are mythical. The real champions are those who live through what they are taught in their homes and churches."

- Jesse Owens.

Jesse Owens was an exceptional athlete, and so he has given us many great and inspiring quotes about running. Every runner should take a look at these Jesse Owens quotes on running!

7. "To a sprinter, the hundred-yard dash is over in three seconds, not nine or ten."

- Jesse Owens.

8. "Running is real. It's all joy and woe, hard as diamond. It makes you weary beyond comprehension, but it also makes you free."

- Jesse Owens.

9. "People say that it was degrading for an Olympic champion to run against a horse, but what was I supposed to do?"

- Jesse Owens.

Listed here are some of the most famous Jesse Owens quotes, enjoy!

10. "The only bond worth anything between human beings is their humanness."

- Jesse Owens.

11. "If you don't try to win you might as well hold the Olympics in somebody's back yard."

- Jesse Owens.

12. "I fought, I fought harder... but one cell at a time, panic crept into my body, taking me over."

–Jesse Owens.

13. "People come out to see you perform and you've got to give them the best you have within you."

- Jesse Owens.

14. "The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself - the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us - that's where it's at."

- Jesse Owens.

15. "Joe, Louis and I were the first modern national sports figures who were black."

- Jesse Owens.

16. "Only by God's grace have I made it to see today and only by God's grace will I ever see tomorrow."

- Jesse Owens.

17. "If it's clay, it pretty much means it was here before 10,000 B.C. Most archaeologists don't believe humans were in North America that early."

- Jesse Owens.

18. "One chance is all you need."

- Jesse Owens.

These meaningful Jesse Owens quotes on friendship are evergreen.

19. "Friendships born on the field of athletic strife are the real gold of competition. "

- Jesse Owens.

20. "Awards become corroded, friends gather no dust."

- Jesse Owens.

These Jesse Owen quotes on his own life, competition and success will keep you motivated and interested.

21. "As I'd learned long ago from Charles Riley, the only victory that counts is the one over yourself."

- Jesse Owens.

22. "We used to have a lot of fun. We never had any problems. We always ate. The fact that we didn't have steak? Who had steak?"

- Jesse Owens.

22. "It was bad enough to have toppled from the Olympic heights to make my living competing with animals."

-Jesse Owens.

23. "Every morning, just like in Alabama, I got up with the sun, ate my breakfast even before my mother and sisters and brothers, and went to school, winter, spring, and fall alike to run and jump and bend my body this way and that for Mr. Charles Riley."

- Jesse Owens.

24. "It dawned on me with blinding brightness. I realized: I had jumped into another rare kind of stratosphere – one that only a handful of people in every generation are lucky enough to know."

- Jesse Owens.

25. "It all goes so fast, and character makes the difference when it's close."

-Jesse Owens.

26. "We'd get into these little towns and tell 'em to get out the fastest guy in town, and Jesse Owens would spot him ten yards and beat him."

- Jesse Owens.

27. "It's like having a pet dog for a long time. You get attached to it, and when it dies, you miss it."

- Jesse Owens.

28. "I let my feet spend as little time on the ground as possible. From the air, fast down, and from the ground, fast up."

- Jesse Owens.

29. "I'm old now. It's all right."

- Jesse Owens.

30. "There is something that can happen to every athlete and every human being; the instinct to slack off, to give in to the pain, to give less than your best."

- Jesse Owens.

31. "One day or another every athlete feels like taking it easy."

- Jesse Owens.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Jesse Owens quotes, then why not take a look at these Usain Bolt quotes or Eric Liddell quotes too?

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