Of the many comments posted in response to my list of the 50 greatest Olympic track and field athletes of all time, first may I address those with which I have the greatest sympathy, namely the views expressed relating to Ed Moses, Alberto Juantorena and Jesse Owens.

Mark from Newcastle, Ally from Auckland, and Steve from San Jose question the omission of Moses. They are joined by Ed from London (not THE Ed, as in Moses, but the Editor of Times Online whose 400m hurdles best time is not known!) Admittedly, it is difficult to argue against the inclusion of Moses but, as I discovered when I was assembling the list, it is equally difficult to create a place for him.

Moses won two Olympic 400m hurdles titles, his first in a world record time, plus one bronze. However, all the athletes in the list with the exception of Mimoun, Gebrselassie, Thompson, Thorpe, Fosbury, Bikila, Beamon, Ottey and Fredericks, achieved a superior collection of medals. Of these, Bikila and Thorpe each won two gold medals with world records on both occasions and, as I have explained before, Fosbury and Beamon are included for extraordinary one-off achievements and Ottey and Fredericks for their phenomenal collection of silvers and bronzes.

This leaves Mimoun, Gebrselassie and Thompson. While I would defend the latter two on the basis of the style and circumstances of their triumphs, it is harder to hold firm on the inclusion of Mimoun at the expense of Moses, no matter how wonderful the Frenchman’s 1956 marathon victory was after an Olympic career spent chasing Emil Zatopek home.

However, the suggestion from Mark that only the US boycott of Moscow denied Moses a hat-trick overlooks the consideration that Africa’s boycott of Montreal in 1976 may have handed Moses the gold, given that Uganda’s in-form John Akii-Bua – the Olympic champion and world record holder – was denied the chance to defend.

Sebastien, from Cannes, and MC, from Oxford, argue for Juantorena, but the Cuban has less of a claim than Moses. As admirable as his historic 1976 400/800m double was – and I confess to feeling uncomfortable at talking down Juantorena’s accomplishments – he won ‘only’ two medals, albeit both gold and one in a world record time. Mimoun might be removed to accommodate him but, as priority for that spot would go to Moses, I see no place for Juantorena.

Suggesting that Owens deserves a higher ranking are Coach Webb, from LA, and TR Acworth, from Georgia. They would be correct had I chosen to take social and political circumstances of each Olympics into account – and how different might the list have been without two World Wars and the 1976 (African), 1980 (US) and 1984 (Soviet) boycotts – but I opted to steer clear of such a complicating hazard. Those ranked ahead of Owens are there because of their sustained success.

Similarly, Ed of London’s shout for Cathy Freeman is understandable on the basis that no other athlete can have delivered gold under such intense pressure. As host nation Australia’s only realistic hope in athletics at Sydney 2000, and as world champion and race favourite performing in front of a 112,000 crowd, Freeman stormed to a magnificent 400m win. But what sport gives points for performing under pressure and my list is no different.

Vassilis Giorgiotis, of Athens, suggests the inclusion of Ulrike Meyfarth, Olympic high jump champion in 1972 and 1984 but, as commendable as her two gold medals 12 years apart were, there are plenty of athletes with two gold medals who did not make the list. As for the suggestion that Carl Lewis should be excluded on the grounds of strong circumstantial links to doping, to what might the writer be referring? The IAAF, the world governing body, certainly has no concerns over Lewis and his preaching on anti-doping otherwise it would hardly have invited him to talk to the media on that subject at its glittering annual gala in Monaco in November.

What is your top 50 list? Or, if you want to keep it simple, top 10 or top 5.