Mention great Olympians and the name Spitz, quite literally, rolls off the tongue. Mark Spitz won seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Games – the most by any athlete at a single Games. The swimmer also set world records in each of his events. He stunned the swimming world when he retired after Munich at the age of 22 to pursue a career in film – he was touted as the next James Bond before being pipped by Roger Moore. At 41, father of two Spitz made a sensational attempt to qualify for the 1992 Games but despite bettering some of his 1972 times, he fell short.

Having withdrawn injured from Seoul 1988, nobody at Barcelona 1992 wanted a medal more than Derek Redmond. The 400m British record holder was ready to show the world what he could do. At the gun Redmond raced to the front but then he heard a pop. Seconds later he was prostrate on the track, holding his amstring. With one thought in mind, and the race long over, Redmond got to his feet and began hobbling round toward the finish line. He covered 100m before his father appeared at his side and the pair crossed the finish line together to a standing ovation.

Decathlete Daley Thompson was the first person to hold simultaneously Olympic, Commonwealth, European and World titles in a single event. With few airs and graces, he was a fans’ favourite but controversy was never far away, whistling the national anthem during the 1984 Olympic medal ceremony and refusing to carry the flag at the opening ceremony of the 1982 Commonwealth Games lest the effort jeopardized his medal chances. When quizzed about training on Christmas Day he joked: “It was easy, I hated my family!”

There has rarely been an athlete who has dominated their event as Michael Johnson did the 200 and 400m. A five-time Olympic champion, Johnson’s defining performance was in 1996 when he clinched 200m gold in a record time of 19.32 seconds. It wasn’t only Johnson’s success, or his golden running spikes, which singled him out. His Forrest Gump-esque running style baffled critics as much as his speed. He brought the curtain down on a glittering career with a double gold-medal-winning performance at the 2000 games.

Father of three Sir Steve Redgrave is not only one of Britain’s most successful Olympians, he may just be the greatest Olympic athlete of all time. An incredible five gold medals in rowing across five different games dating back to Los Angeles 1984, makes him the daddy of all modern Olympians. Since retiring, Redgrave has dedicated himself to charitable pursuits, with almost as much success as he enjoyed on the water. In 2006 he ran his third London Marathonraising a record £1.8m for charity, while The Steve Redgrave Fund has raised over £5m to help children in the UK and third world countries.

Despite breaking countless records Jesse Owens still stayed in ‘Black only’ hotels when travelling with his university team. If Owens thought the Olympics would be more enlightened he had another thing coming. Hitler intended to use the 1936 Berlin Games to showcase his concept of Aryan superiority. You can imagine the look on his face when Owens raced to victory in the 100m, 200m, long jump and 100m relay. Hitler refused to acknowledge Owens’ achievements. He was later stripped of his amateur status after he tried to cash in on his notoriety.

Lord Sebastian Coe may now be more famous for being the London 2012 Games supremo but in the 1980s his success and rivalry with fellow Brit, Steve Ovett, set the world of middle distance running alight. Diametrically opposite in personality and style, Coe and Ovett shared honours at the 1980 Moscow Games with Coe just losing out to Ovett in his favoured 800m but triumphing in the 1,500m. Four years later Coe became the first man to defend the 1,500m title. In 1992 the father of four became a Tory MP. Later becoming a life peer, Coe enjoys roles with London 2012, FIFA and the IOC.

A late bloomer, Linford ‘Lunchbox’ Christie became the oldest Olympic 100m champion, at 32. Christie’s career came to a controversial end in 1999, however, when he was banned after testing positive for nandrolone. The father of six was exonerated, by UK Athletics at least, but suspicion shrouds his achievements. Christie recently engaged in a war of words when Sebastian Coe excluded him from the London 2012 bid team. Commenting on the feud, Derek Redmond said. “He (Linford) is a well-balanced athlete; he has a chip on both shoulders.”

Few Olympians are remembered with more affection than ski-jumper, Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards. The man christened the ‘Benny Hill of ski’ by the French took the 1988 Calgary Winter Games by storm with his indefatigable approach, Jimmy Hill chin and jam jar spectacles. Indeed, despite finishing second last – the last placed jumper was disqualified – Edwards became the only athlete to ever be mentioned in the closing speech of a Summer or Winter Olympics. Unfortunately his poor performance also led the IOC to tighten qualification standards across all events. A film of his life is currently in production.

There was more than a hint of ‘Cool Runnings’ when the Venezuelan luge team arrived at the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics, when it was revealed that the ‘team’ consisted of father and son, Werner (48) and Christopher Hoeger (17). The Hoegers had become interested in luge after watching the 1998 Nagano event and with his exclusion from the Venezuela gymnastic team for the 1968 Summer Games still rankling Hoeger Snr and son set to work. They became the only father and son to compete in the same Winter Olympic event. For the record Chris finished 31st in the event while father Werner finished 40th.