It appeared to be Riefenstahl 's habit to re-edit the film upon re-release , so that there are multiple versions of each language version of the film . For example , as originally released , the famous diving sequence ( the penultimate sequence of the entire film ) ran about four minutes . Riefenstahl subsequently reduced it by about 50 seconds . ( The entire sequence could be seen in prints of the film circulated by the collector Raymond Rohauer . ) The film had an immensely strong reaction in Germany and was received with acclaim and accolades around the world . In 1960 , Riefenstahl 's peers voted '' Olympia '' one of the 10 best films of all time . '' The Daily Telegraph '' recognised the film as " even more technically dazzling " than '' Triumph of the Will '' . '' The Times '' described the film as " visually ravishing ... A number of sequences in the supposedly documentary Olympia , notably that devoted to the high-diving competition , become less and less concerned with record and more and more abstract : as some of the divers hit the water , the visual interest of patterns of movement takes over . " American film critic Richard Corliss observed in '' Time '' that " the matter of Riefenstahl ' the Nazi director ' is worth raising so it can be dismissed . I n the hallucinatory documentary '' Triumph of the Will '' ... she painted Adolf Hitler as a Wagnerian deity ... But that was in 1934 – 35 . In '' Olympia '' Riefenstahl gave the same heroic treatment to Jesse Owens ... " The film won a number of prestigious film awards but fell from grace , particularly in the United States when , in November 1938 , the world learned of Kristallnacht , an especially large pogrom against the Jews of Germany . Riefenstahl was touring the U.S. to promote the film at that time and was immediately asked to leave the country
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
Olympia (1938 film)