One was local hero Percy Williams, who had doubled up by winning the 100 metres and 200m for Canada in Amsterdam.

The other was an English aristocrat who would leave his mark on the sporting world both during and after his career on the track.

David George Brownlow Cecil, a descendant of the First Minister of Queen Elizabeth I, was known as Lord Burghley for most of his life. He was also heir to the title of Marquess of Exeter, which he took in 1956.

As Lord Burghley he became one of the top hurdlers in the world and, on the day when Williams became 100m Olympic champion, he won the 400m hurdles.

Because of his aristocratic background, the North American public were taken in too. On his first visit to the United States in 1925, Lord Burghley was "cheered by 20,000 who stood and bared heads as the band played God Save the King" after winning in Philadelphia, the Associated Press reported.

Readers of the Guardian had been told on that first morning of the Empire Games that "Lord Burghley's appearance in the 440 hurdles (the Empire Games used imperial rather than metric distances until 1970) will be the feature of the opening day's racing, as a great deal of publicity has been given to him, and the Canadians will regard it as a great novelty to see the heir of one of Britain's old aristocratic families skipping over the hurdles".

Lord Burghley, educated at Eton, Institut Le Rosey and Magdalene College, Cambridge, would skip his way to victory in the 440 and 120 yards hurdles, and add a third gold medal in the one-lap relay.

"The glamour of his reputation, his performance, and not least his title, captured the local imagination, and he received a whole-hearted ovation," wrote the influential journalist Bevil Rudd, an Olympic gold medallist in 1920.

Rudd said the crowd were "wild with excitement" later in the week for the sprint hurdles final, which he rated as Lord Burghley's greatest performance. 

With three gold medals, Lord Burghley lived up to his billing, while Williams took the 100 yards title but was injured near the finish and did not race again in Hamilton.

After his retirement from the track in the early 1930s, Lord Burghley became one of the most influential administrators in sport before the onset of professionalism. 

He served for 48 years at the International Olympic Committee, for 30 years as President of the International Amateur Athletic Federation, and for 40 as President of the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA). 

The number plate of his Rolls Royce was AAA1, and he was a lifelong campaigner for athletics to remain amateur.

Lord Burghley was the Seb Coe of his time: an Olympic champion, a Conservative MP for a while and chairman of the Organising Committee for the London Olympics, in his case in 1948.

His exploits featured in the film Chariots of Fire, through the fictionalised character Lord Lindsay.

In 1927, during his last year at Cambridge, Lord Burghley caused a sensation by running around the Great Court at Trinity College in the time it took the Trinity Clock to toll 12 o'clock.

Chariots of Fire distorts the real version of events, crediting Harold Abrahams with the achievement. Lord Burghley, who died in 1981, the year the film was released, is said never to have watched it.