Raquel Dillon / Associated Press
In this Nov. 19, 2013, photo, Dan Imler of SCP Auctions shows Jesse Owens’ gold medal from the 1936 Olympics at the SCP Auctions in Laguna Niguel, Calif.
Sunday, Dec. 8, 2013 | 10:19 a.m.
LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. — An Olympic gold medal won by Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Games has sold for a record $1.4 million in an online auction.
SCP Auctions says an anonymous bidder paid $1,466,574, the highest price for a piece of Olympic memorabilia. The online auction ended Sunday.
Owens won gold in the 100- and 200-meters, 400 relay and long jump at the games attended by Adolph Hitler, who used the Olympics to showcase his ideas of Aryan supremacy.
According to the auction house based in Laguna Niguel, Calif., the medal is unidentifiable to a specific event. It says Owens gave the medal to his friend, dancer and movie star Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, as thanks for helping Owens find work in entertainment after he returned from Berlin.
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