1970 Summer Universiade, Turin: men's 110m hurdles, gold.

For David Hemery, the 1970 Summer Universiade in Turin was an important staging post between earning Olympic gold and bronze medals in the 400 metres hurdles.

And it involved him returning to the event in which he had first established himself internationally - the sprint hurdles.

Hemery, born at Cirencester in Gloucestershire, was partly brought up in Britain but moved to the United States when his father took up accounting jobs there and later attended Boston University, where he studied engineering.

His first international flourish came at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica, where he won the 120 yards hurdles.

Two years later he produced, in the thin air of Mexico, one of the greatest Olympic performances of all time.

Despite being only sixth-fastest on paper going into the men’s 400m hurdles final, he won by more than eight metres, lowering the world record to 48.12sec.

In 1970, with his longer-term sights set on defending his title at the Munich 1972 Olympics, Hemery sharpened up by returning to the shorter distance - and with ideal effect.

In July, he retained his Commonwealth title in Edinburgh, the event having changed to the 110m hurdles, clocking 13.66sec to finish comfortably clear of Australia’s Mal Baird, who recorded 13.86.

In November of that year, Hemery lined up at the Stadio Comunale in Turin and earned himself another version of gold as he clocked 13.8sec to win the 110m hurdles title, with the respective silver and bronze medallists, Gunther Nickel of West Germany and Sergio Liani of Italy, being timed at 13.9.

Despite having to miss 1971 with injury, Hemery duly defended his Olympic title in Munich, but had to settle for third as Uganda’s John Akii-Bua lowered his world record to 47.82.

He went on to complete his Olympic medal set as part of the British 4x400m silver-medallist team.