the silver medal for second place and was the first to congratulate Owens: they posed together for photos and walked arm-in-arm to the dressing room. Owens said, "It took a lot of courage for him to befriend me in front of Hitler... I would melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn't be a plating on the twenty-four karat friendship that I felt for Luz Long at that moment". Long's competition with Owens is recorded in Leni Riefenstahl's documentary Olympia – Fest der Völker. Two days later, Long finished 10th in the triple jump. He went on to finish third in the 1938 European Championships in Athletics long jump with 7.56 metres (24'9½"). World War II Luz Long served in the Wehrmacht during World War II, having the rank of Obergefreiter. During the Allied invasion of Sicily in Italy, Long was injured on July 10, 1943, in the battle for the Biscari-Santo Pietro airfield, and died 4 days later in a British military hospital. He was buried in the war cemetery of Motta Sant'Anastasia in Sicily. Long and Owens corresponded after 1936. In his last letter, Long wrote to Owens and asked him to contact his son Karl after the war and tell him about his father and "what times were like when we not separated by war. I am saying—tell him how things can be between men on this earth". After the war, Owens travelled to Germany to meet Karl Long. Long is seen with Owens in the documentary Jesse Owens Returns To Berlin where he is in conversation with Owens in the Berlin Olympic Stadium. Memorials Roads near sports facilities in Long's home town of Leipzig, and in the Munich Olympia Park of 1972 are named after him. His medal, photos, and documents were donated to the Sportmuseum Leipzig. In popular culture In the film The Jesse Owens Story (1984), he is portrayed by Kai Wulff. In the film Race, he is played by David Kross. References Further reading Karl-Heinrich Long: Luz Long – eine Sportlerkarriere im Dritten Reich. Sein Leben in Dokumenten und Bildern. Arete Verlag, Hildesheim 2015, . Transcript of letter sent by Luz Long to Jesse Owens from Sicily while he was serving in the Wehrmacht. "Tell him about his father" External links Photo of Long and Owens 1913 births 1943 deaths German male long jumpers Athletes (track and field) at