Video: Great Olympic Moments: Daley Thompson multi-tasks his way into decathlon history Not content simply with winning on the track and in the throwing and jumping disciplines, he worked assiduously at winning over spectators with his exuberance. In a 2005 survey of the best celebrations by an international sportsman Thompson's perfectly executed backflip, after he upstaged his great German rival Jurgen Hingsen in the decathlon pole vault in 1984, came top with 18 per cent of the vote. Also at those Los Angeles Games, London-born Thompson could be clearly seen jauntily whistling along with the national anthem after receiving the gold medal. But not everything he did was entirely admirable. After winning in 1984 he cavorted around the Memorial Coliseum in an assortment of T-shirts, one of which carried the wholly gratuitous slogan: "Is the world's 2nd greatest athlete gay?" This was aimed at the American Carl Lewis, who won four gold medals in LA. What really distinguished Thompson, though, was his brilliance as an athlete. He even won over the Soviet crowd when he collected his first gold medal in 1980. They had been grudging in their appreciation of foreign athletes, but made an exception with Thompson. Attracted by his mixture of ebullience and unbending will to win they gave him a standing ovation as he completed the final event, the 1500 metres, to secure first place. He gave a bravura performance in applying relentless pressure that eventually broke Hingsen at the 1984 Games. The German was threatening to take the overall lead in the seventh event, the discus, when Thompson, who had fluffed two attempts, spun out a big final throw of 46.56 metres (152ft 9ins) to stay in front. Hingsen became unwell, did badly in the pole vault and Thompson stretched away to win comfortably, despite ending with a contrary performance in the 1500 metres. He needed to run 4min 34.98sec, well within his compass, to regain the world record from Hingsen but deliberately slowed up to finish in 4:35.00. There was, though, a twist to come. After a review of the photo-finish pictures, the IAAF, athletics's governing body, shaved 100th of a second off Thompson's 110m hurdles time. This meant that, with one more point, he had in fact equalled Hingsen's record - a fact that became academic when a subsequent revision to the scoring charts gave him the record outright.