The remarkable Hungarian former gymnast, who survived the Nazis and went on to win 10 Olympic medals, 5 of them gold, turns 100 today.

Gary Hall Senior won medals at three Olympic Games and held numerous world records, but on one late-August day in 1972, it was Hall’s friend, clubmate and fellow competitor, Mark Spitz, who set the sporting world alight, as Hall explains…

As a pusher in the four-man bobsleigh team spearheaded by pilot Billy Fiske, Edward Eagan won the gold medal with the USA I team in the final event of the Lake Placid 1932 Winter Games. Twelve years earlier, as a boxer, he had been crowned Olympic champion in the light heavyweight competition at Antwerp 1920. Today marks the anniversary of one man’s extraordinary achievement.

Almost every major sports fan in the world knows swimmer Michael Phelps won a gasp-inducing eight Olympic gold medals at the Beijing 2008 Games, but far fewer will recall that the record-setting haul would never have happened without the super-human efforts of USA teammate Jason Lezak. Here, the relay specialist reflects on his role in one of the most memorable moments in Olympic history.

Ninety-five years ago in Paris, in the space of two days – 18 and 20 July 1924 – Johnny Weissmuller was crowned Olympic champion in the 400m freestyle, the 100m freestyle and the 4x200m freestyle relay with the USA. He also played as a centre forward in the US team that took bronze in the water polo tournament. After winning two more golds four years later in Amsterdam (100m and 4x200m), he embarked on a career change that would see him demonstrate his swimming talents in a slightly different way…

Great Britain’s Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent won a mind-blowing nine Olympic gold medals between them, dominating rowing from Los Angeles in 1984 to Athens in 2004. Here, in the first of a new series featuring stars past and present analysing the enduring magic of the world’s greatest sporting spectacle, the titanic duo reveal how the Games have defined their lives.

Tall, dark, goggle-less and, most crucially of all, moustached, Mark Spitz is one of the most instantly recognisable Olympic athletes of all time. At the Munich 1972 Games the swimmer won seven gold medals in a scarcely believable seven world-record times. According to the man himself, his legendary performances were not wholly unexpected, goggles are over-rated, and the moustache was key. 

From the record-breaking Michael Phelps and the trend-setting Usain Bolt to the heart-warming stories of China’s brave shooting star Du Li and Afghanistan’s remarkable Rohullah Nikpai, the Olympic Games Beijing 2008 had it all.