The 1936 Berlin Olympics provided the setting for the first major shoe endorsement when Adolf "Adi" Dassler persuaded Jesse Owens to wear his handmade track shoes. Dassler, who wanted to focus on shoemaking rather than Nazi politics, drove to the Olympic village to pitch his product to the fastest man alive. Owens' success in the shoes launched the brand that would eventually become Adidas, marking the birth of the modern sports endorsement industry.