Following an unspectacular performance at the 1936 Games, giving birth to two children and living through World War II, Holland's Fanny Blankers-Koen was considered too old for Olympic competition. But the Dutch mother, who during the war broke the high and long jump world records, put on the greatest woman's sprinting display in history. She won the 100m, 200m, 4x100m and 80 hurdles. Her four gold medals are a record in women's track and field. Had Blankers-Koen competed in the long jump (Olympic regulation limited female participation to three individual events) she may have won a fifth gold medal. The long jump winner was 56 cm short of Blankers-Koen's world-record mark.

In the 1930's Hungarian Karoly Takacs was considered one of the world's top pistol shooters. A member of the world champion Hungarian shooting team, he shattered his right hand in a grenade accident during his military service. After a year in the hospital Takacs taught himself to shoot with his left hand. Takacs won the gold in the rapid fire pistol event in 1948 and repeated his victory in 1952.