Race Page #3

Jews to be members,

and that's the only way they

can qualify for the games.

We have several, very promising

Jewish athletes we

expect to compete.

Look, I'm not here to tell

you how to run your country.

I walk in a man's house,

I'm not gonna piss on his rug.

But I don't expect him to feed

me manure and call it foie gras.

You wanna use these games to sell

your nasty little ideas to the world,

and I'm here to tell you no

one is gonna stand for it.

You gotta clean up your act.

Would you like me to

translate or interpret?

Avery, what did

you have in mind?

Gotta take down those posters.

Put a leash on your press.

I don't wanna hear about anymore

rounding up of undesirables.

And I want your word,

here, today,

that you will not exclude Jews

and Negroes from the games.

So long as they're

American citizens,

we'll bring Martians

if we want to.

If the minister agrees,

he can count on your support?

Sure.

Coach?

There you go.

What, what's this?

An identity

and registration card

for the Ohio state legislature.

All the pages

there gotta have them.

What's a page do?

Takes home 60 bucks a month,

plus expenses.

All right. But what

does he gotta do?

Nothing. He's got the Big Ten

Championships coming up. He trains.

Thanks, Coach.

See you at

9:
00 a.m. sharp.

Ten seconds. Okay?

I want you to count that to yourself.

Ten seconds, fellas.

That's all you

get to run the 100.

Sixty strides,

and every single one of them counts.

There's no margin

for error, all right?

You could fall down in the 400,

pick yourself up and

still place. Not here.

Now, if you're over-striding,

if your cadence is too slow,

it can cost you a quarter

of a second the whole race.

Every fraction of

every second counts,

but it's your start that

counts the most of all.

Go.

I'm looking at you, Jesse.

You come off the gun like you're

slamming into a brick wall,

and it pains me

to watch it, okay?

You gotta start low.

You gotta glide into

it like an airplane.

Any of you fellows ever seen

an airplane take off?

The lower you are,

the longer you stay there,

the less resistance you get,

the faster you are.

It's that simple.

Ready?

And we're gonna keep working

on that over and over, okay?

You gotta stay low all the

way through the hurdle, okay?

Wow. The great

Jesse Owens.

Jesse, let's get back to basics.

Why don't you swing from those

bamboo poles over there, boy?

That's right, jiggaboos!

Let's see you

hang off those bars!

Hey, Jesse, get set.

Hustle to it fellas. It's just like

being back in the jungle?

Come on, porch monkey, swing!

Yeah, do it!

One more thing.

Jesse, you wanna tell me

what was so interesting about

the goddamn football team?

I don't know, Coach.

I just got distracted.

You got distracted?

See, that's what I'm talking about.

You can't get distracted.

You understand?

What the hell is this?

All right, Larry. Finish this up now.

I got boys who need to shower.

Yeah, one sec, Coach.

I'm not quite through yet.

Sit down. Everybody,

sit down. Sit down!

Larry, hustle these n*ggers out of here.

You hear me?

Get 'em out!

If you get your head turned by a few

gorillas in warm-up pads here at home,

how are you gonna

hold up in Michigan?

Who the hell is he calling

"gorillas," Coach? Coach Snyder!

Hey, look at me!

Coach Snyder.

A lot of people show

up for the Big Ten meet.

Coach Snyder!

Not all of them are gonna be on our side,

you understand?

Do you? Do you?

You gotta learn to

block it all out!

It's just noise!

That's all, all this is!

All it is, is noise.

You hear me?

They will love you

or they will hate you.

Does not matter.

'Cause either way, when you're out there,

you're on your own.

Jesse!

Do you hear me?

Yeah. Yeah,

Coach, I hear you.

Good.

About time.

All right, come on. Let's go.

You heard Coach.

They need the locker room.

Right.

Come on! Move it!

Let's go!

Jesus Christ, Snyder.

Why you always have

to complicate everything?

Thanks for your patience, Coach.

Locker room's all yours.

What in the hell

was that, Coach?

Okay, Dave.

All right. Let's see it.

That was for you.

No, that was for you, shorty.

No, I'm good, Mel.

Come on.

You believe it?

Yeah, I saw.

You jump like my sister.

Like your sister?

Matter of fact,

my daughter can make that jump.

She's three years old.

Yeah, she's three inches taller than you.

Come on now.

Hey, shorty,

show us what you got.

Come on, Jesse.

Hey, what would Ruth say?

Come on, Jesse.

Make her proud now.

Yeah, shorty!

One jump.

One jump!

You better lower that.

I don't think...

No, pick it up.

Pick it up now.

Come on now.

Higher. Don't be shy.

I don't know what

he was thinking, though.

Right.

Who's that?

I think that's his coach.

Coach.

Yeah?

I'm fine. Two days,

and I'll be right as rain.

You've got three days.

Three days from now, we go to Ann

Arbor with or without you. Got it?

Goddamn it.

What were you doing?

Training.

Fell down some steps.

Ladies and gentlemen,

welcome to Ferry Field

here in Ann Arbor, Michigan,

for the finals of the Big Ten

track and field conference

of 1935!

Hey, go get dressed.

I'm scratching you.

You can't run.

Coach, I'm fine.

I'm good.

For God sakes, you can barely walk, Jesse.

Come on.

Coach, just let me do the 100.

You wanna pull me after that, then fine.

What? No.

No, no, no.

No, you run with an injured back,

you could be out for months.

All right?

Forget it.

Coach, let me do this.

The three days did the trick.

I'm good.

It'll only be 10 seconds.

Better be faster

than that. Go.

Ladies and gentlemen...

The first sprint

final of the day,

the 100-yard dash!

Negro!

They will love you

or they will hate you.

Does not matter.

'Cause either way, when you're out there,

you're on your own.

Set.

Hey, kid, you did it.

You did it.

I was slow off the start.

No, no, no,

no. 9.3 seconds.

That's a record, kid.

9.3 seconds!

9.4.

What are you talking about?

9.4, Larry.

No, I clocked it myself at 9...

You know the rules.

What rules?

We have to go with the higher time.

What are you talking about?

What do you mean,

"the higher time"?

We got two out of three agree.

Okay, then, what's the problem?

Will you calm down?

Do you understand? I'm not gonna calm

down till you come to your senses

and give us the record!

We're going with

the higher time!

That's ridiculous!

You gotta be kidding me, Phil!

Look!

I see it, Coach.

Up next, on the broad jump,

we have from Ohio State University,

Mr. Jesse Owens.

What's he doing?

What do you mean?

He's getting a feel for it.

Excuse me, sir.

How far did you say

that Chinaman could jump?

What, whoa.

Mr. Nambu is,

Japanese.

His world record

stands at 26 feet and two inches.

Do you have a handkerchief

I could borrow?

Thanks.

Now he's just showing off.

Ladies and gentlemen,

we have a new world record.

Twenty-six feet, eight and

one quarter inches!

Twenty-six feet, eight and

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