The Olympic marathon runner who took more than 50 years to finish the race

Kanakuri Shizō, a Japanese marathon runner, went missing during the race at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm. He stopped at a party taking place in a villa on the marathon route in order to quench his thirst, then caught a train to the Swedish capital and left the country the next day. He returned to Japan without notifying race officials. But 50 years later, after being invited back by the Swedish authorities, he completed the race with an unofficial time of 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 8 hours, 32 minutes and 20.3 seconds. Portugal's Francisco Lázaro died from heat exhaustion during, the only athlete to die during the running of an Olympic marathon.

When the Queen of England parachuted into the Olympics

One of the highlights of the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympics in London was the sketch featuring the Queen and James Bond. In the full clip, Bond - played by British actor Daniel Craig - is greeted by Her Royal Highness and her corgis at Buckingham Palace. Secret agent 007 whisks the Queen off into a helicopter flying over the capital to East London before the daredevils parachute out of the helicopter into the Olympic Stadium. Mark Sutton, the stuntman who parachuted into the Stadium dressed as Bond, died the following year in a wingsuit flying accident in Switzerland. He had been travelling at around 125 miles per hour when he hit a ridge.