大象传媒

At the 1956 Melbourne Games British steeplechaser Chris Brasher became one of the few Olympic champions to have received their gold medal "blind drunk, totally blotto, with an asinine grin on my face".

At the same time, he became one of Britain's most unlikely .

That he was drunk as a lord atop the podium is just a nice aside, but how he came to be so inebriated is down to the sportsmanship of his fellow competitors.

Two years before the Games, he had played a pivotal role in helping Roger Bannister break the four-minute mile barrier and he was generally regarded as Bannister's pacemaker.

But Brasher trained for the Olympics like a man possessed, he even gave up cigarettes.

However, he was the third member of Britain's 3,000m steeplechase team and nobody, apart from himself, had given him a chance of even winning a medal.

His exertions appeared to have paid off though as he stunned Hungary's Sandor Rozsnyoi and Norway's Ernst Larsen on the last lap to cross the finish line first.

He then discovered that he had been disqualified for impeding Larsen.

Now the states that the spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play should be encouraged and thankfully at the Melbourne Games those ideals were upheld by Brasher's rivals.

Larsen, who had finished second and was set to be lifted to first, told Brasher he had won fairly, that the result should not be changed and lobbied officials to reinstate the Brit.

Fourth-placed Heinz Laufer said he would throw the bronze at officials if he was promoted to third.

"In those days," said Brasher, "nobody had shoe contracts and athletes could say exactly what they felt."

The judges took three hours to reinstate Brasher, who was so relieved he went on an all-night bender with several British hacks - the medal ceremony followed the next day.

It was Britain's first athletic gold for 20 years.

In 1981, Brasher helped found the , and it is this that many people associated him with.

But the at the age of 74 in 2003, should also be remembered for his stunning performance in Melbourne.

And to that end, I want to know which other Olympic stars have matched Brasher's never-say-die attitude and turned themselves into unlikely winners?