Williams suffered acutely from arthritis towards the end of his life, and was 74 when he killed himself in 1982 with a shotgun he had received to mark his Olympic successes.

Two years earlier, poignantly, he had donated his Olympic medals to the BC Sports Hall of Fame saying he wanted them to be seen and remembered. Within two weeks they were stolen from their showcase and never seen again.

But it would be wrong to allow the unhappy conclusion of Williams’ life to cloud the brilliant success of his early years.

He went out to the 1928 Olympics in Antwerp as an unregarded unknown. He returned as the Olympic 100 metres and 200m champion and was greeted at the train station by 25,000 fans on what had been named as a school holiday to aid the celebrations.

Two years later, after the vision and sheer bloody-mindedness of local journalist Bobby Robinson had secured the funding to stage the first Commonwealth Games in Hamilton, Ontario, Williams was the poster boy for the new event.

Expectations had been further raised by his setting of a 100m world record of 10.3secs which would stand until Jesse Owens ran 10.2 at the Berlin 1936 Olympics.

The local hero lived up to his billing as he won the Commonwealth 100 yards title - but it proved to be a Pyrrhic victory as he tore the tendons in his upper left leg around the 70 yards mark.

He was never the same, and after failing to reach the 100m final at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics he retired and became an insurance agent.

It was a remarkable career; but it was remarkable that he ever had such a career.

At the age of 15, Williams suffered from rheumatic fever - which can inflame and permanently damage the heart - so severely that he was advised by doctors to refrain from taking part in any sports.

He began running in earnest the following year.

Thirty two years after Williams’s Olympic victories a 20-year-old United States sprinter collected three gold medals at the 1960 Rome Olympics having had similarly severe childhood illnesses.

Wilma Rudolph was born prematurely in Tennessee, the 20^th of 22 children from her father Ed Rudolph’s two marriages. In her early years she had pneumonia and scarlet fever, and after contracting polio at the age of five she suffered an associated infantile paralysis.

Doctors were not certain whether she would ever walk again. She eventually recovered - but she lost strength in her left leg. Her foot was slightly deformed and she had to wear a leg brace and orthopedic shoe for the next seven years.

And yet this young girl was destined to become known as "The Black Gazelle" in tribute to her speed and beauty.

At the age of 12, after years of intensive treatments and daily massages from her family,she learned to walk without either of her two artificial aids for the first time.

Soon she was showing exceptional ability at school in basketball and athletics. At the age of 16 she attended the US Olympic trials and earned a place to compete at the 200m in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, where she became the youngest member of the United States team and won a bronze in the women’s 4x100m.

Four years later in Rome she swept the board, winning gold in the 100, 200 and 4x100m. After she retired in 1962 she became a notable and effective activist and advocate for civil rights.

In 1997 I was asked to help Britain’s 400m runner Roger Black write his autobiography - How Long’s The Course?

Having made his name in startling fashion as a 20-year-old when he won the 1986 Commonwealth and European titles in quick succession, Black struggled with injuries before retaining his European title in 1990 and the following year he anchored the British 4x400m relay team that famously defeated the United States at the 1991 World Athletics Championships.

More illness and injury followed, but he restored himself to peak condition in 1996 when he broke the British record twice and won silver at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics behind home athlete Michael Johnson.

It was a hell of a career - but, as with Williams and Rudolph, it followed a childhood in which doctors were left shaking their heads grimly at the idea of pursuing sporting excellence.

In his book Black revealed a well-kept secret. At the age of 11, and already a natural runner and rugby player, he was diagnosed as having a defective heart valve.

"Because of my defect - in medical terms, an aortic incompetent value - the blood goes out, and some of it leaks back," he wrote, adding that he had kept the letter written to his general practitioner by the heart specialist at Southampton General Hospital Dr Neville Conway.

That read: "On examination I think he has aortic regurgitation. His pulse is collapsing in quality…he has an aortic ejection click, followed by a short ejection systolic murmur..

"My view is that for the next six months in the first instance at least he should not undertake any special training…my reason for saying this is that if aortic regurgitation has appeared relatively suddenly this might prove too much of a load..

"It is not uncommon for the bicuspid valve to start to leak as it increases in size and this is another factor that must be watched carefully."

Black was banned from doing cross country - no great loss to this budding sprinter. But he was also barred from playing rugby, switching from the wing to touch judge at most.

Throughout his career from that point he required a secret, annual check-up. But Black resumed his athletics career, and in March 1985 Conway wrote again to his doctor: "I naturally want Roger to excel, since he has such tremendous talent. 

"I think you will understand my position, however, if I express some reservations about the severity of the training he will have to undergo and its possible effect on his myocardium.

"I have to do this for reasons you will appreciate…In short, I cannot give you carte blanche."

Later that year Black won the European junior 400m title.

In January 1987, shortly after Black’s Commonwealth and European victories, Conway wrote again: "Delighted to see Roger in the clinic and to see how well he is. I see no reason why he should not go on to the very top…

"As I said to him, I wonder if the aortic incompetence, by causing the small increase chronically in his stroke volume, has in fact helped him rather than hindered him. 

"Too much, I am sure, would be bad, but perhaps it has stretched his myocardium and enlarged his left ventricular capacity a little.

"Having said that, I do not think I would recommend it for all athletes!"