Washington: US President Barack Obama welcomed relatives of Jesse Owens and 17 other black Americans who competed at the 1936 Olympics to the White House on Thursday, 80 years after they were denied the honour.

Tommie Smith and John Carlos — the black athletes whose clenched-fist medal podium salute at the 1968 Summer Games saw them ostracised by US Olympic officials for years — were also received as Obama and first lady Michelle Obama honoured America’s 2016 Olympic and Paralympic competitors.