Goofs

The boycott vote was on December 23, 1935. The newspaper Coach Snyder reads with the headline about the vote results is dated December 8, 1936.

When Jesse Owens is in Luz Long's room, Long's breast pocket patch is reversed; the swastika faces the wrong direction.

When Jesse Owens is outside Ida's beauty salon, it's raining. When he steps inside to talk to his girlfriend, his hat and coat are dry.

Hitler never snubbed Jesse Owens during the 1936 Olympics. On the first day, the chancellor insisted on congratulating only German athletes. The chief of the Olympic committee and his staff told Hitler that he had to congratulate all of the athletes or none, and Hitler chose the latter. According to Owens, Hitler actually nodded when Owens passed him.

At 6:53, the sign in the bus says "Colored sit at rear." Public transportation was segregated in 14 southern and border states, but not Ohio.

At the 1935 Big Ten Track and Field Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Jesse Owens won the 220 Yard Dash, not the 200 Yard Dash. If a sprinter runs 200, it's meters, not yards.

When Larry meets Jesse for the first time, he identifies a photo of Larry and three other men on his office wall as members of the U.S. Olympic track team at the 1924 Paris games. The photo (with Jason Sudeikis' face superimposed on one of the heads) is actually from the 1920 games in Antwerp.

As Jesse walks into the Berlin stadium before his first finals race, the Hindenburg zeppelin flies over, casting its shadow on him. In reality, the Hindenburg only flew over the stadium during the opening ceremonies on August 1st. Jesse's first gold medal race was on August 3rd, when the Hindenburg was 260 miles away in Frankfurt, preparing for its next trans-Atlantic flight.

The film refers to Owens competing in the broad jump at the Big Ten championship. Some say he actually competed in the long jump. "Broad jump" and "long jump" are alternate names for the same event. A jump started from a standstill was called a "standing long jump" or "standing broad jump." Even if the event's official name was the Long Jump, characters (including announcers) talking about a broad jump would be technically correct.

When Jesse is tying up his spikes, the two white stripes are missing, and the area around the eyelets should be white as well.

In a conversation which is entirely in German, between Joseph Goebbels and Leni Riefenstahl, when Goebbels asks Riefenstahl if he makes her nervous, she responds in English instead of German, responding with "No" instead of "Nein".

This conversation starts at approx 1:18:25 in the movie, and it is at 1:18:46 when responds with "No" instead of "Nein".

After Owens wins a gold medal in the 100 Meters, he is told that Chancellor Hitler would not be able to meet him. In 1936, Hitler was no longer called Chancellor. When President Paul von Hindenburg died in August 1934, Hitler consolidated the titles of President and Chancellor into Fuhrer.

Coach Snyder says he crashed his Stearman in 1924. The first Stearman plane's inaugural flight was in 1927.

A sportscaster says Snyder used to be "a hell of an athlete." In 1933, anyone who used the word "hell" on the radio, outside of a religious context, would've been fired immediately.

When Quincella leaves Lincoln in a huff in July 1935, she tells Jesse "screw you!" According to many sources, that phrase first came into use during or after World War II.

During the 100-yard dash at the Big Ten Championships, a man waves a Nebraska pennant. Nebraska joined the Big Ten in 2011. At the time of the film, The University of Nebraska was a member of the Big Eight, which is now the Big 12.

When Luz takes his second jump in the long jump at the Games, his right foot clearly exceeds the white jump strip, which would have rendered the jump illegal.