Part two of Olympia, subtitled Festival of Beauty, opens with more naked men, this time running, cavorting in the water and laughing together in a sauna. A section displaying the pleasures of the men’s Olympic Village ends with what would turn out to be an ominous symbol: a watchtower above the camp with a Nazi flag waving nearby.
Coverage of the field hockey final shows Germany scoring a goal against “British India” without pointing out that India eventually won the match 8-1.
Quite a bit of time is devoted to sharing the dangers of the cross-country course in the three-day equestrian event. We are shown no less than 13 spills. The German riders, who had practiced on the course, won both the individual and team events. Horse lovers might find the sequence upsetting. Indeed, although it is not mentioned in the film, three of the horses were so badly injured that they were “put down,” which is to say, killed.
The decathlon also earns extended coverage, perhaps because Riefenstahl engaged in a brief but torrid affair with winner Glenn Morris of the United States. She also directed a staged version of the ending of the final event, the 1,500 meters, having apparently missed cinematic coverage of the actual race.
The last sport to be shown in the almost four-hour long film is diving. Again mixing competition coverage with staged footage, the sequence is magnificent. However, none of the divers are identified by name.
