1963 Summer Universiade, Porto Alegre: men's javelin gold. 

By the time Janis Lusis turned up in Porto Alegre, Brazil to compete in the 1963 Summer Universiade, he was already 24 and European javelin champion having won the previous year in Belgrade.

But the standard of opposition in the Estadio Olimpico Monumental was seriously high. Three of his rivals had competed at the 1960 Rome Olympics, and two others would, like him, make their Games debut in Tokyo the following year.

Lusis - Latvian-born and representing the Soviet Union - had won what would be the first of his four European titles with a Championship record of 82.04 metres.

He didn't quite need that to secure gold in Brazil, winning with a best effort of 79.77m from West Germany's Hermann Salomon. The German was one of the Rome Olympians who went on to compete at the Tokyo 1964 and Mexico City 1968 Olympics - and threw 77.78m.

Bronze went to Hungary's Gergely Kulcsar, who had won bronze in Rome and would compete in three more Olympics, adding a silver and bronze. He threw 77.62m to take third place in Porto Alegre.

Salomon's compatriot Rolf Herings, who would compete at the 1964 and 1968 Olympics, was fourth with 74.05m and Japan’s Takashi Miki, who would compete in the following year's home Games, came seventh on 68.70m.

Lusis made what would be the first of four Olympic appearances in Tokyo, where he earned bronze, and then in Mexico he won gold.

Four years later in Munich, on September 3, Lusis, the world record holder and defending his javelin title, managed a huge throw with his sixth and final attempt in the Olympic final.

It looked long - but would it overhaul the fifth-round mark of 90.48m with which home thrower Klaus Wolferman had just seized the lead?

Lusis had established himself in the lead with an opening effort of 88.88m and extended it with a third-round effort of 89.54m. But on this occasion it was to be silver rather than gold for him as the figure of 90.46m came up.

Wolfermann had earned the title by just two centimetres - which was, and remains, the narrowest margin in an Olympic javelin final.

So Lusis, finally, completed his Olympic medal set.

The final Olympic effort for Lusis would come at the 1976 Montreal Games where, aged 37, he finished eighth with 80.22m as Hungary's Miklos Nemeth won with a first round world record of 94.58m.

A year before his Munich Olympic appearance, Lusis had concluded what was then a uniquely successful record in the European Championships, earning his fourth title almost a decade after his first in 1962.

Lusis also set two world records. Four years before his pre-Munich effort in Stockholm he established a new mark of 91.98m at a competition in Finland, bettering Norwegian Terje Pedersen's mark by 26cm.

In his career he broke the 90m barrier in 15 competitions and threw over 80m in 147 competitions. He even competed in the decathlon in his early years, being ranked fifth in the world in 1962.

In 1987, on his 75th birthday, Lusis - who died aged 80 in 2020 – was described by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), now World Athletics, as the world's all-time best javelin athlete and he was inducted into the IAAF Hall of Fame.

Lusis married fellow Olympic javelin champion Elivira Ozolina, who was also a European champion and record holder. Their son Voldemars Lusis also competed in the Olympic javelin competition at Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, carrying the Latvian flag during the Opening Ceremony in 2000.