Riefienshtal almost invents sports photography and major sport event filmmaking. She plays with the camera angles, low angle especially, to find the best vantage points to capture the variety of Olympic games. There are angles here such as the low angle looking at a pole vaulter or runner and high angle tracking shots that are used widely now to film all sorts of sporting events. This is such a breakthrough that it is the basis for filming most modern sporting events today on television. She goes beyond those camera angles as well and uses slow tracking shots to really heighten the moment and draw meaning from the imagery beyond the literal image of what you're seeing.
There is a poetic representation of the athletes here as part of the lineage of Ancient Greece, equating them with the Greek Heroes of lore. This notion is especially cemented in her depiction of the lighting of the Olympic candle coming from Greece.