When he was twenty-one, Luz Long won a bronze medal in the long jump at the 1934 European Athletics Championships. He was proud to have represented his home country of Germany with his third-place finish, but knew if he had jumped eight inches farther, he would have won the gold medal. This motivated him to train harder. Two years later he was the best long jumper in all of Europe. The opportunity to become a world champion came in 1936 when his nation’s capital of Berlin hosted the Summer Olympics, welcom- ing athletes from forty-nine countries. Luz was confident he would win a gold medal in front of his family and friends.
Germany’s leader was Adolf Hitler, an angry dictator who took control of his nation by getting rid of anyone who opposed him. He saw the Olympics as an opportunity to promote his racist idea that those with pale skin, straight fair hair, and light eyes were superior athletes and people. Even though Luz’s athletic body and blonde hair embodied this ideal, he disagreed with what Hitler stood for and the direction he was leading the country that Luz loved.
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