Olga Fikotová and Hal Connolly Hal Connolly, an Olympic star from Boston, and his bride Olga Fikotová, a Czechoslovak Olympic gold medalist, are congratulated by Emil Zátopek and his wife Dana after the pair were wed in a civil ceremony in Prague on March 27, 1957 The 1956 Melbourne Olympics was a showcase of seething global tensions. Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon opted out in response to the Suez crisis; the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland boycotted the Soviet presence in the Games after the USSR crushed the Hungarian revolution; and China did not participate after Taiwan was allowed to under an alias. But Olga Fikotová and Hal Connolly's love-conquers-all story managed to rise above the animosity. Fikotová, a gold-medal Czechoslovak discus thrower and Connolly, an American with a gold medal in hammer throwing, met during the Games and continued their romance afterward, to a mixed reception. SPECIAL: History of the Olympics in TIME Covers, 1924-2008 "I returned home as the only gold-medal winner in the delegation, and at an official reception I was told that I brought from Melbourne 50% honor and 50% shame because I'd been running around with an American fascist," Fikotová told the Financial Times last month. The reaction was a bit better for Connolly: then U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles announced, "We believe in love," after the pair got engaged. The pair wed in Prague in 1957 after receiving special permission from Czechoslovak President Antonín Zápotocký and had four children before divorcing in 1974. Next: Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner Andrei Iliescu / AP Gymnastics stars Bart Conner and Nadia Comaneci kiss at their wedding at an Orthodox church in Bucharest, Romania, on April 27, 1996 Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci captured hearts across the globe after her history-making perfect 10 in the 1976 Montreal Games, which landed her on the cover of TIME. Future husband Bart Conner, on the other hand, had already been won over. Conner, an American gymnast, had kissed the 14-year-old Comaneci after both won at the American Cup International meet in New York City. "After the meet, we stood together and raised these big silver cups," Conner told People in 1995. "Some photographer said, "Why don't you lean down and give her a little kiss?" I did, and it ran in the paper the next day. VIDEO: The U.S. Team's Only Rhythmic Gymnast It took 14 years and a harrowing escape from communist Romania for Comaneci and Conner to meet again, but the two finally began dating after Comaneci took a room in Conner's Oklahoma home. The gold-medalist couple (Conner snagged two golds in the 1984 Olympics) married in Romania in 1996 and had a son in 2006. Next: ‪Ekaterina Gordeeva‬ and Sergei Grinkov/Ilia Kulik