Luz Long

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Men's Athletics
Olympic medalist
Luz Long (right) with Jesse Owens (middle) and Naoto Tajima (left)
Medal record
Pierre de Coubertin medal		Posthumous
Silver	1936 Berlin	Long jump

Carl Ludwig "Lutz" Long (aka Luz Long) (April 27, 1913 – July 13, 1943) was a German Olympic athlete, most notable for giving advice to his competitor, Jesse Owens. Owens went on to win the gold medal for the long jump event at the 1936 Summer Olympics thanks to Long's advice^{[citation needed]}. For his actions in the spirit of sportsmanship, Long was posthumously awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal.

Long was wounded when fighting in Sicily and died in a British military hospital.

[edit] 1936 Olympic Games

The German government had high hopes for their star athletes. The long jump 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 make the third jump in order to advance, Owens sat on the field, dejected.

According to Owens, Long went to him and told him to try and jump from a spot several inches behind the line. Since Owens routinely made distances far greater than the minimum required to advance, Long surmised that Owens would be able to safely advance to the next round without risking another foul while trying to push for a greater distance.

While Owens's account is disputed, what is known is that Owens was very calm and jumped with about half a foot of clearance, clearing his third attempt. Owens went on to win the gold medal in the long jump while besting Long's own record. Long was the first to congratulate Owens, and they walked arm-in-arm to the dressing room.

[edit] 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 kilates friendship that I felt for Lutz Long at that moment." —Jesse Owens on being advised and congratulated by Lutz Long at the 1936 Summer Olympics.