Question

Suddenly all the tension seemed to ebb out of my body as the truth of what he said hit me. Confidently, I drew a line a full foot in back of the board and proceeded to jump from there. I qualified with almost a foot to spare.

That night I walked over to Luz Long’s room in the Olympic village to thank him. I knew that if it hadn’t been for him I probably wouldn’t be jumping in the finals the following day. We sat in his quarters and talked for two hours—about track and field, ourselves, the world situation, a dozen other things.

When I finally got up to leave, we both knew that a real friendship had been formed. Luz would go out to the field the next day trying to beat me if he could. But I knew that he wanted me to do my best—even if that meant my winning.

Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.

How did Owens manage to qualify for the finals with a foot to spare?

Answer 1

Luz Long was a tall German long jumper. Though he was trained by Hitler, he did not believe in Hitler’s theory. Jesse Owens was his opponent player but he was friendly with him and even helped him to get qualified for final. He suggested that Owen should draw a line behind take off board and then jump. Because of him, Jesse managed to qualify for the final.