American Glenn Morris' victory in the decathlon helped pave his way into the film industry. His cinematic appeal was first noted in Berlin. The talk of the Games became the love affair between Morris and flamboyant German film director Leni Riefenstahl. Riefenstahl was filming Olympia, the Nazi-funded propaganda film which also stands on its own as an artistic masterpiece retrospective of the Games. Riefenstahl was not the only one who fancied the athlete's celluloid apearances. Years later, Morris followed in the footsteps of another Olympic great, Johnny Weissmuller, also portraying Tarzan on the silver screen.

When a 76 year-old torch bearer entered the Olympic Stadium at the opening ceremony of the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, few foreigners understood the meaning behind the emotional outburst of the crowd. The story began 52 years earlier when Korean Sohn Kee-Chong's 2:04 minute marathon victory had left a bitter taste in the mouths of Korean nationals. In 1936 Japan occupied Korea. Sohn was forced to run under the name Kitei Son and watch the flag of Imperial Japan raised in honor of his victory. It was only in Seoul that Sohn's victory run was finally complete.

Egyptian weight lifter great, Khadr Sayed El Touni, who won the middleweight division by no less than 35kg, had an interesting way to both stimulate himself during training and preserve family harmony. El Touni's four wives each sat at a different corner of the lifting stage for long hours, while he trained for the Olympics.