American Archie Hahn, known as the "Milwaukee Meteor" won three gold medals, sweeping the 60m, 100m and 200m sprints. Hahn's real love, however, was football. He played for the University of Michigan until his slight stature caused him to be cut from the team. His natural talent was always sprinting and he was well ahead of his time in both ability and concepts. His 200m Olympic record of 21.6 seconds in 1904 was not broken until 1932. During his coaching career he wrote the classic How To Run The Sprint. Only in his final years did he fulfill his true dream of coaching football.

Not much is known about an American gymnast named George Eyser. What is known about him, however, is enough to earn him the reputation of an Olympic hero. As a child he was run over by a train and his left leg was amputated. However Eyser went on to become a world-class gymnast. In St. Louis won gold medals in the parallel bars, rope-climbing and horse vault competitions, and silver medals in the all-around and pommelled horse event and a bronze on the horizontal bar.