The women's 100m was a particularly competitive event, led by three excellent athletes from the United States. In the first round each of them – Wyomia Tyus, Barbara Ferrell and Margaret Bailes – equalled the Olympic record with times of 11.2secs.

Fans, journalists and, if they're honest, athletes – we all like the concept of a historic target to aim at. The four-minute mile, for instance, was an obsession of middle-distance runner for years. For sprinters, it was the 10-second 100m. For year after year, sprinters had been closing in on a 100m time that dipped under the 10-second barrier. And for years, they hadn't been getting there.

Tikhonov had had three days to reflect on his narrow failure to win a gold medal in the 20km event at Grenoble. His silver was still a towering achievement for a young skier, but he knew that if only he had missed just one target, instead of two, then victory would have been his, instead of going to the Norwegian Magnar Solberg. Now, though, had another chance to win a title – and this time he would need the support of his Soviet Union team-mates.

The pentathlon was introduced to the Olympic Games in Tokyo and it produced an absorbing contest between three outstanding athletes. The favourite was Irina Press, from the Soviet Union, who had set the world record in the event back in 1959. Her aptitude was clear – at the Rome Olympic Games four years previously, she had competed in both the 80m hurdles and the sprint relay with distinction – a gold over the hurdles, and fourth place with the relay team.

Athletes often share a room during the Olympic Games, but rarely can a room have contained quite so much sporting brilliance as the one shared by Anna Packer and Mary Rand, two unassuming British women destined to prove themselves among the most versatile athletes in the world.

In recent years, we have become accustomed to the idea of a swimmer winning multiple gold medals, but it wasn’t always recognised as such a possibility. In 1964, the American swimmer Don Schollander became the first Olympic athlete to win four gold medals at a single Games, a feat that was all the greater because the victories were accompanied by three world records and one Olympic record. And all this, despite missing out on his favourite event.

The USA’s Wilma Rudolph was the world's fastest woman in 1960, and was the undisputed star of the sprinting events in Rome, and one of the Games indeed one of the standout performers across any sport.

Chris von Saltza had delivered a signal of his future prowess in the pool at the 1959 Pan American Games, winning five titles, including individual and two as part of the US women’s relay team. By the time she arrived at the Rome Olympics at the age of just 16, she was heavily tipped for gold, having been entered into the 100m and 400m freestyle, and both 4x100m relays.