Olympic Symbols Have Sinister Origins
By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

Aug. 20, 2004 — Two of the most well-known symbols of the Olympic Games, the Olympic rings and the torch relay, did not originate in ancient Greece, but instead were immortalized in Nazi Germany, according to the recently published book, The Naked Olympics.

The lasting power of these symbols demonstrates how effective the Nazis were at creating powerful, dramatic images. It also reveals the association that Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) and his followers wished to make between Nazi Germany and classical Greece.

~~~~~~~~~~~

1936-Summer-Olympics

Film-maker Leni Riefenstahl was commissioned to film the Games. The film, titled Olympia, was arguably a piece of propaganda, but originated many of the techniques now commonplace to the filming of sports.

To ensure victories, the German government provided anabolic steroids and testosterone supplements to its atheletes.

For the first time the Olympic Flame was brought to the Olympic Town by a torch relay, with the starting point in Olympia, Greece.

The games were the first to have live television coverage, Telefunken and Fernseh broadcast over seventy hours of coverage to specially erected booths throughout the city.


and this one is too good to leave out...

German communist Werner Seelenbinder had planned to win the wrestling event and make a vulgar gesture at Hitler; but instead came fourth.