Daley Thompson was the kind of sportsman who delighted his fans and infuriated his critics in equal measure.

A great irony of the 1984 Olympic Games was that the boycott of the event by the Communist-led Soviet Union also marked the first full appearance at a Summer Games by China.

Boxer Floyd Patterson’s early performances in the Olympic arena marked him out as a rare talent.

Russell Mockridge was one of the world's greatest cyclists, but his path to Helsinki was not a smooth one. Given the choice, he would have become an Australian Rules footballer, but his poor eyesight meant that was not an option. He took up cycling as a hobby when he was 18 and turned out to be astoundingly good, comfortably winning his first race despite not knowing anything about the sport's tactics.