Though not a member of the National Socialist Party, Leni Riefenstahl
was the filmmaker 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
nonfiction, 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. Read the
first chapter of Olympic Affair here.
