"I wasn't invited to shake hands with Hitler but I wasn't invited to the White House to shake hands with the president either" - Jesse Owens

In the concluding episode of Mark Pougatch and Paul Hayward’s Adolf Hitler’s 1936 Olympics trilogy, the pair uncover the lasting legacy of the Berlin Games and how they shaped athletes, politics, and global sport for decades to come.

From Jesse Owens’ post-Olympic struggles and forced European tour, to Luz Long’s unlikely friendship across racial divides, and the rise of the Hitler Youth, this episode explores both the human stories and the Nazi political propaganda that defined the era.

This episode reveals how the 1936 Olympics became the blueprint for modern-day sportswashing - influencing how nations like China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia use global sporting events for power and image-building.

Nearly 90 years later, the shadow of Hitler’s Olympics still looms large over the world of sport.

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We'd love to hear from you! Email us: howitallplayedout@global.com

Executive Producer: Adem Waterman

Head of Podcasts: Factual: Al Riddell

Director of Podcasts: Vicky Etchells

"The Americans should be ashamed of themselves, letting Negroes win their medals for them. I shall not shake hands with this Negro” - Adolf Hitler, 1936

In Part Two of the Adolf Hitler's 1936 Olympics trilogy, Mark Pougatch and Paul Hayward head to Berlin, 1936, as athletes from 49 nations arrive for the games. Determined to showcase Germany as a modern, powerful, and orderly nation, the Nazi regime orchestrated the most expensive Olympics in history, complete with a groundbreaking opening ceremony and a propaganda machine unlike anything the world had ever seen.

Hitler envisioned the Games as proof of Aryan supremacy - but one man shattered his myth. Jesse Owens, the grandson of a slave from Alabama, stunned the world by winning four gold medals, humiliating Hitler and cementing his place as one of the greatest athletes in Olympic history.

Behind the spectacle, however, foreign politicians and dignitaries were being courted by Nazi leaders, all while the regime escalated its brutal campaign of antisemitism, violence, and sportswashing.

This episode examines:

• How the 1936 Berlin Olympics rewrote the rulebook for opening ceremonies and global sporting events
• The propaganda machine of the Third Reich and its manipulation of international opinion
• Helene Mayer, Hitler’s token Jewish athlete, who controversially gave the Nazi salute on the podium
• How the world looked away as Nazi Germany used sport to mask persecution and murder on mass scale

Step inside the stadium where history, politics, and ideology collided - whilst the world watched and did nothing.

Remember to follow or subscribe, and give us a 5 star review too!

We'd love to hear from you! Email us: howitallplayedout@global.com

Executive Producer: Adem Waterman

Head of Podcasts: Factual: Al Riddell

Director of Podcasts: Vicky Etchells

"It's a project of Jews & Freemasons, and a play inspired by Judaism which cannot possible be put on in a Reich ruled by national socialists"

In Part One of this gripping trilogy of How It All Played Out, award-winning journalists Mark Pougatch and Paul Hayward take listeners back to 1930s Berlin to uncover the dark truth behind the 1936 Olympic Games.

Discover how Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime lobbied to host the Olympics, transforming them into a powerful tool of propaganda, nationalism, and the inception of sportswashing. Behind the spectacle lay a chilling reality: the rise of antisemitism in Germany, the early installation of concentration camps, and the global community’s blind eye to the signs of tyranny.

This episode explores:

• How Nazi Germany won the right to host the Olympics in 1931 and Hitler's continual opposition
• Adolf Hitler’s vision for the Games and the IOC’s complicity
• The devastating impact on the Jewish community and marginalised groups
• The origins of using sport as a weapon of politics, racism, and ideology

Step into history where sport, politics, and propaganda collide - revealing a blueprint for how dictators manipulate global events to secure and maintain power.

Remember to follow or subscribe, and give us a 5 star review too!

We'd love to hear from you! Email us: howitallplayedout@global.com

Executive Producer: Adem Waterman

Head of Podcasts: Factual: Al Riddell

Director of Podcasts: Vicky Etchells