Steve Ovett celebrates after winning Gold in the 800m at Moscow, 1980

Daley Thompson springs to mind and Steve Redgrave of course.

I would have sed Sir Ranulf Fiennes but as he wasn't an Olympian . . .

Steve Redgrave

Paula Radcliffe

Sally Gunnell was a top performer in the 400m Hurdles who dominated the event through the first half of the 1990’s:

1992 – Olympic Champion

1993 – World Champion

1994 – European Champion

Jonathan Edwards celebrates victory after his winning performance in the Triple Jump at the Sydney Olympics of 2000.

seb coe,

steve redgrave,

daley thompson (esp. as you need to be good in 10 disciplines)

sally gunnell

chris hoy

rebecca adlington

victoria pendleton

johnathon edwards

Mary Peters was a childhood hero of mine.

I also enjoyed the Steve, Seb and Steve battles.

i always enjoyed watching linford christie run

He carried the torch through Ilfracombe yesterday, where he used to live, my grandsons and daughter had a grandstand view from their window.

Will always be a hero to me, great guy too Daley Thompson

For me Daley Thompson is our ultimate Olympic hero. Not just because of the way he won spectacular back to back gold medals in Moscow and LA in the most gruelling athletics event of them all, the decathlon. But there is something extraordinary about a man who at his peak did not lose a decathlon for nine years.

Especially in slow motion huh?

Daley Thompson sprang to my mind too.

nice lunchbox soozy

john regis was a great lunchbox athlete but don't know if he was at the olympics  

I wonder if he had to fork out £200 for the torch and another £200 for the outfit like the 81 yr old friend of my mates mum had to.. outrageous to be asked to carry a torch then have to fork your own money out in order to do it

Ah! On my PC I can see it's British.

In that case I remember Anne Packer and Mary Rand doing rather well before the whole Olympic ideal was lost.

turned out a good investment though, with one torch selling on ebay for £150,000

oh yes indeedy did he win a medal in the relay?  maybe not, we often tend to cock that one up

pardon the pun

I don't know about the outfit, but I read that they got the opportunity to buy the torch - didn't think they had to.

Oh yes!

no but for an 81 yr old woman it must have felt like a great honour to be asked so I should think she'd want the torch as a souvenir. .and yes she had to pay for the outfit as well. .the Olympic committee raised and spent billions yet they can't give an outfit and a torch  to each bearer. . would cost less than half a million for all 8000 torches and outfits... which is a drop in the ocean compared to how much they spent in total.. I bet the 'celebs' didn't have to pay for theirs

I thought they just had to pay if they wanted to keep it? 

David Hemery on his way to winning Gold in the 400m Hurdles at the 1968 Mexico Olympics – considered one of the greatest runs from a British athlete.

I recall as a child seeing Hemery on BBC sporting challenge show The Superstars where, I believe, he was an outstanding competitor.

On the subject of Hemery and Mexico; Lillian Board is certainly worth a mention.

During the late 1960’s Board was the Golden Girl of British athletics and at 19-years-of age won Silver in Mexicoin the 400m. This, however, was considered (by her at least) as a massive disappointment. The following year she made amends for personal disappointment and won 2 Gold medals at the European championships in Athens.  Tragically her potential was never fulfilled; Board was diagnosed with cancer and passed away in 1970 – shortly after her 22^nd birthday.

Gosh... David Hemery and Lilian Board..... real blasts from the past. Cold Sweat...

Yeah, they only have to pay if they want to keep the torch and outfit, but if they give them back then there's no cost involved.

Torchbearers were told in March that they will have to pay £199 if they want to keep the torch as a souvenir of their special day.

I shall never forget the tragic death of Lilian Board, she had placed herself in the trust of a guy who was, I think, later proved to be a charlatan and suffered dreadfully.

Roger Bannister

Not that I'm old enough to have seen him break the 4 minute mile.

I've just read about Josef Issels. it's quite interesting.

Issels believed that cancer was caused by the weakening of the human immune system and hence had to be cured by strengthening it again. However, he did not dispute the importance of conventional cancer therapies like surgery and chemotherapy, and did in fact use them when treating his patients. Issels did not advocate a panacea-like new therapy, but rather prescribed various neglected, forgotten, or non-mainstream treatments, such as the Coley Vaccine pioneered by William Coley, hyperthermia, where Manfred von Ardenne researched its effectiveness in cancer.

Issels opened his Ringberg Clinic in Bavaria in 1951. As the clinic achieved greater fame, patients from around the world began to seek his treatment. However, other doctors did not approve of his practice, specifically the Bavarian Medical Council, which charged Issels with fraud and manslaughter. After a four year legal battle, Issels' convictions on all charges were overturned, and his clinic was re-licensed. Issels centers and clinics continue to treat cancer patients around the world, with all types and stages of cancer.

Among his illustrious patients were Jamaican reggae legend Bob Marley and British Olympic medallist Lillian Board, who both entered his Rottach-Egern clinic for treatment. In both cases, cancer had reached terminal stage already^{[citation needed]}, and both died soon after.

A review of Issels' claims by the American Cancer Society concluded that there was no evidence that treatment with Issels Combination Therapy or any related treatments were effective against cancer

Fluffy I remember Lilian's twin sister telling us about her time in the clinic, she was not given painkillers and was in agony.  Despite the info given he was not welcoming of his patients being given chemo or suchlike and I remember that Lilian was given hope that his treatment would cure her.  Nobody should have to go through what she went through before she died, if she had gone the conventional treatment method she would have been given palliative care.  In view of how young she was I can quite understand why she clung onto any hope she was given but tragically it was false hope.  Anyone who read that article was left with a real sense of horror.

Yes and I find that outrageous as I said up there ^^^^. . and again I doubt the celeb torch bearers have to pay anything. . but even if they do it's a blooming cheek making any of them pay to keep the stuff. .I'd sling it right back at them and say keep it and stuff your torch bearing job..  

I had no idea about all this. I remember her dying of cancer and that was it. How tragic.

Soozy her sister painted such a vivid picture of her sister's suffering that I could see it in my mind's eye and I will never forget it.

Our athletes are diva's.

Gimme Chris Hoy any day.

Tough call between those two, but seeing as this appears to be mainly an athletics thread; Daley by a mile.

Best female athlete: Paula Radcliffe. She's never really managed to cut it at the Olympics (and sadly probably never will), but her two Marathon world records stand as astonishing achievements. Firstly, she knocked nearly a minute and a half off of Catherine Ndereba's record, and then 6 months later she knocked nearly 2 minutes off that. To put that into context: if Ndereba and Radcliffe were to run against each other and achieve their fastest-ever times, Radcliffe would finish around a kilometre ahead.

The only other woman to run faster than Ndereba is Shobukhova, and Radcliffe's third fastest time is still 38 seconds faster... 

I remember Lillian Board.  She was lovely and really pretty and it seemed so wrong that she was ill.  I remember her dying (and her treatment); tragic.

David Moorcroft, David Bedford, Lynn Davies, Alan Pascoe, David Hemery, David Jenkins, Brendan Foster, Sonia Lannaman, Donna Murray .....