You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn't be… — Jesse Owens · Smartyfair

You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn't be a plating on the 24-karat friendship I felt for Luz Long.

Jesse Owens1913–1980 · athlete · 1900s USAJesse Owens was an American track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, an extraordinary achievement made even more powerful because it directly challenged Nazi Germany's racist ideology at the time.2 quotes

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In plain words

A friend he made at a race meant more to him than any medal.

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Where these words come from

How sure this is: 50% sureLots of sources credit Jesse Owens with this, and they agree with each other. The book or the speech it first came from hasn't turned up yet.
What turned up: From an ESPN SportsCentury profile by Larry Schwartz (2005) recounting Owens's own words about German rival Luz Long; a secondary retelling, held at likely.
Work: as retold in ESPN SportsCentury profile, 2005
Occasion: 1936 · Berlin Olympics · remembering his friendship with German long-jump rival Luz Long
Sources checked: en.wikiquote.orgChecked using claude-sonnet-5, 21 August 2026Cites ESPN SportsCentury by Larry Schwartz (2005), on his friendship with Luz Long at the 1936 Olympics

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