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Events on Monday 31 March 1980 1
1913 – 1980Jesse Owens (1913-1980)Died 31 March 1980, aged 66American track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, undermining Nazi claims of Aryan racial superiority. He set world records in sprinting and long jump and became a global symbol of athletic excellence over ideology. Owens died of lung cancer in Tucson, Arizona.