Coe and Ovett, whose middle-distance rivarly in the late 1970s and early 1980s has been credited with helping turn athletics into the global multi-million pound industry it is now, are among six athletes to be inducted into the Hall of Fame established by England Athletics.

 

The others areSir Roger Bannister, the first athlete to break four minutes for the mile, David Hemery, the 1968 Olympic 400 metres hurdles champion, Sally Gunnell, the 1992 Olympic and 1993 world 400m hurdles champion, Daley Thompson, the 1980 and 1984 Olympic decathlon champion, and David Holding, one of Britain's most successful ever wheelchair athletes who won the 100m at the 1996 Paralympics and four London Marathon titles.

 

Coe and Ovett swapped world records and lit up arenas across Europe.

 

Their rivalry peaked at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow when Ovett won the 800m only for Coe to come back and unexpectedly claim the 1500m, the first of consecutive titles he was to win over that distance.

 

Ovett, who now lives in Australia, has become good friends with Coe, who recently paid him the highest compliment possible.

 

The London 2012 chairman said: "He’s the greatest runner I ever competed against, probably the most complete athlete I know".

 

As part of the selection process for the Hall of Fame panel of experts selected 11 athletes for the public to vote on, as well as a further list of athletes which the public could also select a name from.

 

The chairman of the expert selection panel was Darren Campbell, who was a member of the British 4x100m relay team that won the Olympic gold medals in Athens 2004 and who had been the 200m silver medallist in Sydney in 2000.

 

He was joined by a group that included Dame Tanni Grey Thompson, who won 11 Paralympic gold medals, BBC commentator Paul Dickenson, and Jason Henderson and Mel Watman, the present and former editors of Athletics Weekly.

 

Campbell said: "I think it is extremely important for all the people who have been inducted this evening.

 

"For them it has brought back memories.

 

"They have never been recognised in this way and we are now recognising what our great athletes have done.

 

"We can remember them, the great things that they have done and the great things many of them continue doing within the sport. It feels an honour for me to be a part of it all."

 

Campbell claimed the athletes of today preparing for London 2012 can be inspired by those who have gone before them, how they can aspire to be similar role models and how they can learn from the approaches of the athletes inducted and the advice they so often give.

 

He said: "They all have the same message - be professional, make sure you have the best coach, the best equipment, spend time with great athletes and leave no stone unturned."

 

As well as the six athletes three other people were also inducted into the Hall of Fame in recognition of their contribution to the sport.

 

They were led by Chris Brasher, himself an Olympic champion having won the 3,000m steeplechase at Melbourne in 1956, but who is best known for founding the London Marathon, which has grown into one of Britain's most popular mass-participation events and has raised hundreds of millions of pounds for charity since it was first held in 1981.

 

The others are David Coleman, the former BBC commentator whose voice provided the unforgettable soundtrack for Coe and Ovett's rivarly, and Geoff Dyson, widely acknowledged within athletics as Britain's most influential coach whose ideas laid the foundations for modern methods.