By the time she competed at the first Summer Universiade, held in Turin in 1959, Romanian high jumper Iolanda Balas, then 22, was the overwhelming favourite given she had already broken the world record six times, starting at 1.75 metres in 1956.

She lived up to her position, taking gold with a clearance of 1.80m - not far short of her most recent world record of 1.83m, which had made her also the first woman to clear six feet.

On September 21, 15 days after the Turin event ended, she raised the world record to 1.84m.

She had already had experience of competing in an Olympics, having finished fifth at the 1956 Melbourne Games.

And the following year she became the first Romanian woman to win an Olympic gold medal as she earned victory in the women’s high jump at the 1960 Rome Games with an Olympic record of 1.85m.

A year later she won a second Universiade title in Sofia, clearing 1.85m and finishing more than 20cm clear of the nearest opposition.

At the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, despite suffering with a hamstring injury, she made a successful defence of her title with another Olympic record - this time 1.90m, with Michele Brown of Australia taking silver on 1.80m.

Balas, of Hungarian origin and coached by the man who she would later marry, Ioan Soter, used a sophisticated version of the scissors technique - to outstanding effect.

Between 1957 and 1966, she won 154 consecutive competitions, not including qualifying competitions or exhibitions.

She also improved the world record 14 times, taking it from 1.75m to 1.91m, with her last record being set in July 1961.

After retiring as an athlete she taught physical education in Bucharest and was President of the Romanian Athletics Federation between 1988 and 2005.

Balas, who died in 2016 aged 79, was also a member of the European Athletics Technical Committee and of the Women's Commission of then-known International Association of Athletics Federations.