Obama welcomes relatives of 1936 African-American Olympians
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama has welcomed to the White House relatives of Jesse Owens and America’s 17 other black athletes from the 1936 Olympics for the acknowledgement they didn’t receive along with their white counterparts 80 years ago.
Relatives of 1936 African-American Olympians, gloved-fist protesters Tommie Smith and John Carlos, and members of the 2016 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams met the president and first lady Michelle Obama on Thursday. Obama congratulated the Rio athletes, thanked Smith and Carlos for waking up Americans in 1968 and praised 1936 Olympians, who “whooped” the competition in front of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany.
The first three 2016 medalists Obama acknowledged were gymnast Simone Biles, shot putter Michelle Carter and swimmer Simone Manuel, all of whom are black.
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