London Olympics 2012

The 2008 Summer Olympics brought a smile to Chinese faces as China became the 22nd nation to host the Games. Overall, it was the third Olympic Games being held in Asia after Tokyo, Japan in 1964 and Seoul, South Korea in 1988.

The 2004 Summer Games returned to their rightful birthplace Athens and there was a Greek tragedy even before they got going when top home sprinters Katerina Thanou and Costas Kenteris were involved in a mysterious motorcycle accident which led them to miss doping tests.

The Sydney Games were the biggest with 10,651 athletes competing in 300 events but despite their size they were recognised as the best organised.

A stunning spectacle of sport overshadowed a terrorist bomb that killed a woman and a monumental technological stuff-up.

The Spanish put on a fiesta in a marvelous setting and in Linford Christie they had a fearless matador. A run that will be remembered as much for his eye-ball boggling ferocious concentration as his sheer power made him the oldest Olympic 100m champion.

Ben Johnson smashed his way to a crushing win in the 100 metres and was then exposed as sport's biggest cheat.

The Soviet Union, as expected, organised a boycott which deprived Los Angeles of countries who had accounted for two-thirds of all medals four years earlier.

Jimmy Carter called a US-led boycott following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan that particularly hit swimming, equestrian, yachting and hockey. Security was overwhelming but the Games were well-organised. The rest of the Soviet Union might not have had a bus to ride but Moscow visitors only had to click their fingers to pull down a bus.

Tanzania refused to go when the IOC ignored demands for New Zealand to be expelled because their rugby team was touring South Africa.

Everything was right for a great Games but the murder of 11 Israeli competitors and officials by Palestinian terrorists who infiltrated the athletes' village ensured that Munich will be forever remembered as the Black September Games.