Nobody would have realised it at the time - except, perhaps, for the man himself - but when 25-year-old Spanish race walker Jesús Ángel García finished fifth in the 20 kilometres event at the 1991 Summer Universiade in Sheffield it marked the start of what would be a historic career.

The race was won by a 23-year-old Pole who would go on, like García, to write his name in the history of the sport. Robert Korzeniowski finished his career with four Olympic golds, three world titles and two European titles.

García has not matched that medal collection, although he has won a world title, but his lasting legacy has nevertheless occurred in the Olympic arena.

At 51-years-old, he became the first person to compete in an athletics event at eight Summer Olympics as he took part in the 50km race walk at Tokyo 2020.

After finishing 35th in Sapporo - chosen as the venue for the road events due to concerns over high temperatures in the capital - he announced his retirement, saying: "Eight Olympics is enough!"

It was a fitting moment for the declaration, as he had just taken part in the last Olympic 50km race walk. The format has now changed to 35km.

Garcia got his Olympic 50km race walk career underway a year after his international debut in Sheffield as he finished 10th at the Barcelona Games.

He would go on to compete in every Games up to and including the postponed edition of Tokyo in 2021.

His best performance came at the Beijing 2008 Games when he finished fourth.

But while his Olympic career was, ultimately, about appearances rather than medals, that was not so in the World Championships.

He won gold at the 1993 Stuttgart edition and added three silvers - in 1997, 2001 and 2009.