Years of sport

The British female Olympic swimming squad at the London Games in 1948 Clockwise from top left: David Burghley in his silk shorts; Eric Liddell parading through Edinburgh; Swedish shooter Oscar Swahn; surprise 1500m winner Josy Barthel; and gold medal British walker Don Thompson Buckeye Bullet, later said: “For a time, at least, I was the most famous person in the entire world.”

Fanny Blankers-Koen, nicknamed the Flying Housewife, proved a runaway success at the 1948 Olympic Games in London.

The 30-year-old, athlete from Holland won four gold medals at Wembley Stadium with her victories coming in the 100 metres, 200 metres, 80 metres hurdles and the sprint relay. “All I’ve done is run fast. I don’t see why people should make much fuss about that,” she said.

Bill Nankeville, father of the comedian Bobby Davro, finished sixth for Great Britain in the same Games in the 1,500 metres race.

Romanian high jumper Iolanda Balas was the first woman to jump a Ladies archery at the London 1908 Games Romanian high jumper Iolanda Balas height of six feet. She accomplished the feat 50 times in a career that included Olympic golds in 1960 and 1964 and 14 world records. Don Thompson was the only British man to win a gold at the 1960 summer Olympics in Rome. He came first in the men’s 50km walk.

However, it’s not just tears of joy that can be found at the Olympics.

The 1500 metre victory of Luxembourg’s Josy Barthel at the 1952 Games in Helsinki was so unexpected that officials found they had not brought along the score to the tiny state’s national anthem.

The band was forced to improvise as the gold medallist stood on the podium. They did well enough, or badly enough, for Josy to bury his head in his hands and begin to weep.