I have interpreted my brief widely in attempting to come up with the 50 most memorable moments in Olympic history. There is inevitably a personal, and therefore, British dimension to the list, but I have endeavoured to be as objective as possible. It is not just a list of the most stirring and rousing moments – or the most brilliant – but also includes instances that have broken into our consciousness for other reasons, whether tragic, comic or epic. Doubtless Beijing will burn many more images on our collective retina, but in the meantime, here is my list of the greatest moments of the last 112 years. Click on the links to read the original Times reports.

50. Barcelona 1992. Jan-Ove Waldner won gold in the men’s table tennis in one of the most riveting displays of virtuosity in the history of the sport. It would have made it into the top ten had I not feared allegations of bias.

49. London 1908. Wyndham Halswell from Scotland won the 400 metres as the sole runner. In the "proper" final two days earlier it was deemed that two Americans had conspired to block him from passing. Officials declared the race void and ordered a re-run, but all the other competitors refused to race against him.

48. Mexico 1968. Britain's hearts were dashed as favourite Lillian Board, who was tipped to win the 400m, saw Colette Besson of France come past her with five metres to go. It became a precious memory as Board died tragically of cancer at 22.

47. Montreal 1976. Russian fencer Boris Onischenko was disqualified after using a circuit breaker to score points in the epee without touching his opponent. Some suggest he had been using the technology for six years.

46. St Louis 1904. US gymnast George Eyser won two golds, a silver and a bronze with a wooden leg.

45. Rome 1960. Wilma Rudolph won three gold medals in 1960 - the 100m, 200m and relay. Remarkable considering she had polio as a child and only learned to walk normally at the age of 7.

44. Rome 1960. Sisters Tamara and Irina Press won five golds and one silver in Rome in 1960. They also set 26 world records in shot put, discus and pentathlon - but mysteriously disappeared from international competition when genetic testing was instituted.

43. Berlin 1936. Born in Poland in 1911, Stanislawa Walasiewica went to America with her family at the age of 2 and changed her name to Stella Walsh. She chose to run for Poland as she worked for the Polish consulate in New York. She won the women's 100m in a world record time of 11.9s in 1936. In 1980 she was caught in the crossfire of a botched robbery; the autopsy revealed she had ambiguous genitalia and could not easily be identified as either biologically male or female.

42. London 1908. Italian waiter Dorando Pietri became one of the world's most famous marathon runners after collapsing five times in the stadium before being helped over the final few yards to win - but the result was disqualified. Later, he was awarded a special gold cup by Queen Alexandra as consolation.

41. Barcelona 1992. Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo spectacularly lit the Olympic flame by firing a burning arrow towards the cauldron in an unforgettable coup de theatre. He later complained to a Spanish newspaper that he had been shabbily treated and had received no official accreditation or tickets to see any of the events, not even the archery.

40. Rome 1960. Ethiopian Abebe Bikila became the first runner representing an African nation to win a gold in the marathon at the Games, something he did barefoot. It was only the third time he had run the distance and he set a world record in the process. He repeated the performance in Tokyo four years later.