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Olympic medalist
Center
Naoto Tajima, Jesse Owens, Luz Long
Medal record
Pierre de Coubertin medal Posthumous
Men's Athletics
Silver 1936 Berlin Long jump

Carl Ludwig "Lu(t)z" Long (27 April 1913[1] in Leipzig – 13 July 1943 in San Pietro Clarenza) was a German Olympic athlete, notable for winning Silver at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin and for giving advice to his competitor, Jesse Owens, who went on to win the gold medal for the broad jump (now referred to as the long jump) as a result of Long's advice.[2] For his actions in the spirit of sportsmanship, Long was posthumously awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal.

Contents

1936 Olympic Games

The 23 year old, 1.84m tall blond Long had finished third in the 1934 European Championships in Athletics with 7.25m. By the summer of 1936, Long held the European record in the long jump and was eager to compete for the first time against Jesse Owens, the American world-record holder. The long jump on August 4 was Long's first event against Owens, and Long met his expectations by setting an Olympic record during the preliminary round. In contrast, Owens fouled on his first two jumps. Knowing that he needed to reach at least 7.15m (about 23 feet 3 inches) on his third jump in order to advance to the finals in the afternoon, Owens sat on the field, dejected.

Owens said in 1964 that Long went to him and told him to try and jump from a spot several inches behind the take-off board. Since Owens routinely made distances far greater than the minimum of 7.15m required to advance, Long surmised that Owens would be able to safely advance to the next round without risking a foul trying to push for a greater distance. In an investigative report broadcast on 14 August 2009, America's National Public Radio (NPR), reporter Tom Goldman debunked the popular myth that Luz Long had directly assisted Owens on Owens' third attempt in qualifying. Although Jesse Owens himself had said in a 1964 documentary film that Long had helped him to remeasure his take-off approach, a year later (1965) Owens was asked point-blank if that story was true. Owens admitted it was not, that indeed no one had helped him during the morning qualifying round. But, Owens and Long did form a deep friendship during the afternoon finals competition.[3]

On his third qualifying jump, Owens was calm and jumped with at least four inches (10 centimeters) to spare, easily qualifying for the finals. In the finals competition later that day, the jumpers exceeded the old Olympic record five times.[4] Owens went on to win the gold medal in the long jump with 8.06m while besting Long's own record of 7.87m. Long won the silver medal for second place and was the first to congratulate Owens: they posed together for photos and walked arm-in-arm to the dressing room.

Two days later, Long finished 10th in the triple jump. He went on to finish third in the 1938 European Championships in Athletics with 7.56m.

Personal life

Long, who had joined the Leipziger Sport Club[5] in 1926, studied law at the University of Leipzig. [6] Carl-Ludwig Long worked as a lawyer in Hamburg[7] before the war broke out.

During World War II, Long was an Obergefreiter and was wounded during the Allied invasion of Sicily on 10 July 1943. He died in a British-controlled military hospital on July 13. He was buried in the war cemetery of Motta Sant'Anastasia, in Sicily.

Memory

Long appeared as himself in Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia - Fest der Völker.[8]

Roads near sports facilities in his home town Leipzig[9], and in the Munich Olympia Park[10] of 1972 are named after him. His medal, photos, and documents were donated[11] to the Sportmuseum Leipzig.[12]

In August 2009, the World Track & Field Championships were held in Berlin's Olympic Stadium and the sport's governing body, the IAAF, dedicated the competition to the memory of Jesse Owens. Members of the United States team wore commemorative patches with the initials "JO" on their left breast.

Quotations

  • "It took a lot of courage for him to befriend me in front of Hitler... You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn't be a plating on the twenty-four karat friendship that I felt for Luz Long at that moment." —Jesse Owens on being advised and congratulated by Luz Long at the 1936 Summer Olympics.[2]

References

  1. ^ http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/lo/luz-long-1.html
  2. ^ a b Schwartz, Larry (2007). "ESPN.com: Owens pierced a myth". http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00016393.html. Retrieved 2008-08-14.  
  3. ^ Was Jesse Owen's 1936 Long-Jump Story a Myth? by Tom Goldman, for Natonal Public Radio, broadcast 14 August 2009. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111878822
  4. ^ Mandell, Richard D. The Nazi Olympics. (1987 reprint of 1972 original) page 166-167. http://books.google.com/books?id=8CYYYeTT5mEC&pg=PA166&dq=Jessie+Owens+1936+Olympic+Broad+Jump#v=onepage&q=&f=false
  5. ^ Leipzig Tourist service [1]
  6. ^ Luz-Long-Ufer - Dr. Luz Long (1913-1944). Mehrmaliger Deutscher Meister und Europarekordinhber bei den Olympischen Spielen 1936 in Berlin. Im zweiten Weltkrieg in Italien gefallen.[2]
  7. ^ 27. April 1913: Geburtstag Carl Ludwig "Luz" Long - Für den Leipziger Sportclub holte er in den Zwanziger- und Dreißigerjahren alle wichtigen Leichtathletiktitel. In Leipzig ist heute eine Straße nach ihm benannt. Als deutsche Hoffnung ging Carl Ludwig - genannt Luz - Long 1936 bei den Olympischen Spielen in Berlin an den Start. Hitler setzte auf den großen, blonden, blauäugigen Weitspringer. Und wirklich: Luz Long sprang Europarekord und holte die Silbermedaille - hinter Jesse Owens. Der schwarze US-Amerikaner gewann vier Goldmedaillen. Die beiden Sportler freundeten sich an, sehr zum Missfallen des NS-Regimes. Nach den Spielen wurde Luz Long Jurist und ließ sich in Hamburg nieder. Später wurde er eingezogen und fiel im Juli 1943 - mit nur 30 Jahren - auf Sizilien. - by Ariane Hoffmann, at wdr.de
  8. ^ Luz Long http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0519083/
  9. ^ Long, Carl-Ludwig (1913-1943), Jurist und Sportler (Weitspringen), seit 2001 Luz-Long-Weg [3]
  10. ^ Luz-Long-Ufer - Dr. Luz Long (1913-1944). Mehrmaliger Deutscher Meister und Europarekordinhber bei den Olympischen Spielen 1936 in Berlin. Im zweiten Weltkrieg in Italien gefallen.[4]
  11. ^ Konvolut Urkunden, Fotografien, Zeitungsausschnitte, von Carl-Ludwig (Luz) Long, LSC, Leichtathletik, Silbermedaillengewinner Weitsprung Olympische Spiele Berlin 1936, (übergeben von Kai-H. Long) [5]
  12. ^ Sportmuseum

External links

List of Pierre de Coubertin medal recipients







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