Although not a member of the National Socialist Party, Leni Riefenstahl
was the film-maker darling of the Nazis and Adolf Hitler. First a
successful dancer and actress in Germany, she became more notorious when
she produced and directed Victory of Faith and Triumph of the Will,
the chilling documentaries about Nazi Party congresses at Nuremberg.
Glenn Morris was an All-American farm boy from tiny Simla, Colorado, as
well as a former college football star and student body president at the
school now known as Colorado State University. At the 1936 Olympics, he
won the decathlon, earning him the label "the world's greatest athlete."
Among the American heroes at the Berlin Games, he was considered second
only to Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals.
Riefenstahl and Morris: An unlikely couple? Perhaps, but in her 1987
memoirs, the German filmmaker belatedly confirmed she had an affair with
the American athlete during the filming of Olympia, Riefenstahl's
documentary about the Berlin Games. In fact, she portrayed it as much
more than a dalliance, saying that she had dreamed of marrying Morris
and that he broke her heart. Morris, who went on to Hollywood, the
National Football League, and military service, spoke sparingly of the
relationship, but mused late in life that he "should have stayed in
Germany with Leni."
In Olympic Affair, author Terry Frei turns to historical fiction in a
novel researched in much the same fashion as his widely praised works of
non-fiction, including Horns, Hogs, and Nixon Coming and Third Down and
a War to Go. Using deduction, imagination and narrative skill to
augment documented fact (as well as debunk myths parroted for many
years), Frei tells the story of their ill-fated affair...and beyond.
