Starting with a long and lyrical overture, evoking the origins of the Olympic Games in ancient Greece, Riefenstahl covers twenty-one athletic events in the first half of this two-part love letter to the human body and spirit, culminating with the marathon, where Jesse Owens became the first track and field athlete to win four gold medals in a single Olympics.
David Albritton
Arvo Askola
Jack Beresford
Erwin Blask
Sulo Bärlund
Ibolya Csák
Glenn Cunningham
Henri de Baillet-Latour
Philip Edwards
Donald Finlay
Tilly Fleischer
Wilhelm Frick
Joseph Goebbels
Hermann Göring
Ernest Harper
Karl Hein
Heinz Herman
Rudolf Hess
Adolf Hitler
Volmari Iso-Hollo
Cornelius Johnson
Matti Järvinen
Elfriede Kaun
King Umberto II
Kalevi Kotkas
Gustaf Alfons Koutonen
Luise Krüger
Maria Kwasniewska
Theodor Lewald
Luz Long
Spiridon Louis
John Lovelock
Gisela Mauermayer
Earle Meadows
Ralph Metcalfe
Paula Mollenhauer
Väinö Muinonen
Seung-yong Nam
Henri Nannen
Yrjö Nikkanen
Shûhei Nishida
Paavo Nurmi
Dorothy Odam
Martinus Osendarp
Jesse Owens
Leni Riefenstahl
Mack Robinson
Ilmari Salminen
Julius Schaub
Kee-chung Sohn
Julius Streicher
Gerhard Stöck
Naoto Tajima
Erkki Tamila
Kalervo Toivonen
Forrest Towns
Werner von Blomberg
August von Mackensen
Hans von Tschammer und Osten
Hans Woellke
Sueo Ôe