Having announced his retirement from the track this week at the age of 37, Marlon Devonish can reflect with satisfaction upon one of the most productive careers ever enjoyed by a British athlete.

His record of 13 medals in major senior international championships is a measure of both talent and longevity. It might have been 15 - but for the punishment meted to the British 4x100m squad following the doping positive of one of their number, Dwain Chambers. That retrospective action nullified the sprint relay medals which Chambers had helped win for Britain at the 2002 European Championships - a gold - and the following year's World Championships, where the quartet took silver.

Famously, one of that team, Darren Campbell, demonstrated his disdain for Chambers' actions at the 2006 European Championships, where a sprint relay quartet including Chambers, who had served his two-year ban, won gold. Campbell, who had been ambivalent at best at the decision to restore Chambers to the team, pointedly refused to take part in a lap of honour with the man whom he always felt had betrayed his own natural talents.

But such high profile activity would not have sat comfortably with Devonish, an amiable Midlander who has been loyal over the years to his local club, Coventry Godiva.

It was entirely characteristic that, when asked on the eve of the London 2012 Games about the possibility of teaming up with Chambers once again, with the likelihood looming that his lifetime Olympic ban under the British Olympic Association's byelaw would be waived, Devonish should respond: "I would have no problem passing the baton to him or receiving it from him. People make mistakes."

Which was not to say Devonish was lax on the subject of doping abuse. "I think the whole world should have the same system and that the ban should be longer," he added. "Four years would be about right. Four years means you miss an Olympics and that is more of a deterrent."

Marlon Devonish (second left) tastes gold at the Athens 2004 Olympics along with fellow sprint relay members Mark Lewis-Francis (left), Darren Campbell and Jason Gardener (right)

During Devonish's glory years he was a modest and accommodating interviewee at all times - a badge of honour that is not celebrated in any official biographies. At times, indeed, he was too accommodating.

One of the high points of the sprinter's career came at the 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, where he won the 200m title in 20.62sec. For the press, there was an obvious immediate angle - three weeks earlier, after winning the Norwich Union Grand Prix on the same National Indoor Arena track, Devonish had commented: "I don't like running indoors. My heart's not in it."

He had been brought to this conclusion not so much by his heart as by his long legs, which he felt did not suit the tight curves and steep banks of indoor tracks.

But lo. Less than a month later he found himself a global champion on the boards. His initial reaction was one of surprised delight. "I'm so, so pleased," he said. "And to think...I almost didn't run. To walk away with the gold medal is fantastic."

But his natural candour meant he couldn't stop there, at the point where any agent would have been happy for him to conclude. No. Marlon went on to add that winning titles indoors "didn't really count" in terms of the big picture.

I, and others with me, winced. "Don't knock it, Marlon! You're a world champion!" we implored. He was being unnecessarily harsh on himself, for whatever reason, but it was a loveable fault.

Devonish doing his thing. His long legs were not suited to indoor running - but ideally suited to the demands of running outdoor bends

Just over a year later, Devonish had another gold medal that he felt no need to apologise for - from the Athens Olympic Games.

The high point of a career which had begun in spectacular international terms with victory in the 100 and 200m at the 1995 European Junior Championships came in a 4x100m win which is now part of British athletics folklore, eternally linked with the two other British track and field golds contributed at those Games by Kelly Holmes.

The second of those two golds, in the 1500 metres, had been won only a few minutes before the team took to the track for their final at 9.30pm, and the Athens stadium was still buzzing in the aftermath. "We can't just win a medal now - it has to be gold," Campbell told his team-mates Jason Gardener, Devonish and Mark Lewis-Francis.

Not only had Chambers's folly lost Britain two prestigious relay medals - it has also put their participation at the 2004 Games themselves in jeopardy as, once the performances in which he had taken part were annulled from the records, the team's competitive standing plummeted to 15th in world - and only the top 16 were invited to the Games by the IAAF.

Thankfully that status was retained and they squeaked into the competition. But once there, Britain's sprinters faced harsh comments from the former world 110m hurdles champion Colin Jackson - who had been roped into 60m and relay duty during his time - and world 400m record holder Michael Johnson, both of whom were working for BBC.

Jackson opined that Britain would struggle to get any male sprinter into a final and that winning a medal was "completely out of reach." It was not a popular opinion - particularly with the combustible Campbell - but it proved correct. As far as the individual events were concerned.

But in the relay, a different, and glorious story.

The team that stood on the track that night would also have been aware that they risked establishing an unwelcome hat-trick for the British sprint relay team following its failure to carry the baton at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics. More pressure to contemplate as they lined up against a United States team including the previous Olympic champion in Maurice Greene and the newly established Olympic 100 and 200 champions in Justin Gatlin and Shawn Crawford.

But we all know what happened next. That is, we recall the eye-bulging finale in which Lewis-Francis, the prodigy who fell to earth, earned tangible reward for his vast talent by holding off Greene's surge on the final leg to cross the line one hundredth of a second ahead.

Marlon Devonish (right) celebrates with Mark Lewis-Francis moments after the US quartet have been beaten at the 2004 Olympics.

But do we recall the other details of the race? Perhaps not. The US team had a horrible changeover between Gatlin and Coby Miller, the second and third leg runners. Miller went too soon and had to check back; Gatlin stepped on his foot and left a hole in his shoe in passing the baton.

Gatlin and Miller had not trained regularly together, which may have led to their problem. The US relay team was effectively split, with Gatlin and training partner Crawford on one side, coached by the soon-to-become notorious Trevor Graham, and Miller and Greene on the other. There was not a harmonious spirit about the team - which contrasted with the togetherness of the British squad.

Britain's race had not been without technical problems, however. A false start by first leg runner Gardener meant he had had to exercise special care in case he completed that unwelcome hat-trick with another false start which would have meant disqualification.

But by the time of the second and third leg changeover, Gardener and Campbell had done enough to keep Britain in the hunt along with the US and Nigerian teams. And the Campbell/Devonish changeover worked a treat, enabling the latter to extend those long legs around the final curve to huge effect. Devonish was always a sumptuous bend runner, and never more so than on that night of nights, when he operated to such effect that he was able to hand the 21-year-old Lewis-Francis a two-metres lead which proved just enough to secure one of Britain's most unlikely Olympic victories.

So farewell then, Marlon. You're history, man. But you are also a History Man.

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, covered the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics as chief feature writer for insidethegames, having covered the previous five summer Games, and four winter Games, for The Independent. He has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, The Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. To follow him on Twitter click here.