Reader’s Digest Australia & New Zealand – May 2019

LESSONS OF FRIENDSHIP

58 | May• 2019

beyondthetake-offboardfora foul.
Onthesecondjump,I fouledeven
worse.DidI come 6000 kilometresto
fouloutofthetrialsandmakea fool
ofmyself?I thoughtbitterly.
Walkingafewmetresfromthe
pit,I kickedatthedirtindisgust.
Suddenly,I felta handonmyshoul-
der.I turnedtolookintothefriendly
blueeyesofthetallGermanbroad
jumper.Hehadeasilyqualifiedfor
thefinalsonhisfirstattempt.He
offeredmea firmhandshake.
“JesseOwens,I’mLuzLong.I don’t
thinkwe’vemet.”HespokeEnglish
well,thoughwitha Germantwist.
“Glad to meet you,” I said. Then,

tryingtohidemynervousness,I
added,“Howareyou?”
“I’mfine.Thequestionis:howare
you?”
“Whatdoyoumean?”I asked.
“Somethingmustbeeatingyou,”
hesaid.“You shouldbe ableto
qualifywithyoureyesclosed.”
“Believeme, I knowit,”I told
him– anditfeltgoodtosaythatto
someone.Forthenextfewminutes,
wetalked.I didn’ttellLuzwhatwas
‘eating’me,butheseemedtounder-
stand my anger, and he took pains to

reassureme.Althoughhe’dbeenin-

doctrinatedintheNaziyouthmove-

ment,hedidn’tbelieveintheAry-

an-supremacybusinessanymorethan

I did.Welaughedoverthefactthathe

reallylookedthepart,though.Hehad

alean,muscularframe,blueeyes,

blondhairanda handsome,chiselled

face.Finally,seeingthatI hadcalmed

downsomewhat,hepointedtothe

take-offboard.

“Whydon’tyoudrawa linea few

centimetresinbackoftheboardand

makeyourtake-offfromthere?”he

said.“You’llbesurenottofoul,and

you certainly ought to jump far

enough to qualify. What does it matter

if you’re not first in the trials?

Tomorrowiswhatcounts.”

Thetensionseemedtoebboutof

mybodyasthetruthofwhathesaid

hitme.Confidently,I drewa linea

full 30 centimetresbehindtheboard

andproceeded to jump from there. I

qualified.

THATNIGHTI walkedovertoLuz’s

roomintheOlympicvillagetothank

him. If ithadn’tbeenfor him, I

probablywouldn’thavebeenjump-

ing in the finals the following day. We

AlthoughLuzLonghadbeenindoctrinated

intheNaziyouthmovement,hedidn’t

believe in the Aryan-supremacy business