Perhaps it was the bushy moustache. Maybe it was the cheeky grin. Doubtless the athletic physique played a part, too. Whatever the reason, more than two decades after Daley Thompson offended the gay community, it seems he has finally been forgiven.

Few who watched the 1984 Olympics Games in Los Angeles could forget the incident that caused the damage. At a press conference that followed his victory in the decathlon, Thompson removed a tracksuit top to reveal a t-shirt emblazoned with the question: "Is the world's second-greatest athlete gay?".

The Briton insisted "gay" meant happy and that the athlete could refer to Jurgen Hingsen, the silver medallist in the decathlon, but everybody was convinced he meant Carl Lewis, the American sprinter who had to deny rumours about his sexuality.

So, it is perhaps a little surprising that Thompson has been voted the most desirable British male Olympian by a poll of 500 gay subscribers to the dating website Parship.

"It may be that some of our members are too young to remember the incident," Adrian Gillan, who works for the pr company employed by Parship, says. "Or maybe they just think he was a little punch-drunk on success at the time."

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Thompson won 33 per cent of the vote, beating Sir Steve Redgrave into second place on 28 per cent, with Sir Matthew Pinsent one behind him, suggesting age superseded beauty in subscribers' preferred rowing champion.

Perhaps almost as surprising as Thompson's success was the popularity of Lord Coe, who tied-fifth in the poll with Steve Ovett, formerly his rival middle-distance runner. In 1994, Coe voted against lowering the agent of consent for gay men.

Jonathan Edwards was third on the list with 11 per cent of the vote, though it is not clear if his attractiveness was linked to the recent collapse of his strict Christian faith. Dame Kelly Holmes easily topped the women's list with 48 per cent of the vote, 29 per cent more than Denise Lewis in second.