Bjorn Daehlie: The Norwegian cross-country skiing legend retired through injury in 1991 as the most successful Winter Olympic athlete of all time. Daehlie's collection of medals included eight gold and four silver, spanning four Games from 1988 to 1998.

Torvill & Dean: The British ice dancers swept the board with a maximum nine perfect sixes for artistic impression, for their free dance to Ravel's Bolero in Sarajevo in 1984. The pair's exhilarating triumph was watched by over 24 million people in the UK.

Hermann Maier: Austrian skiing great Maier suffered a spectacular crash in the men's downhill in Nagano in 1998 when a serious injury seemed likely. Instead Maier got up, dusted himself off, and went on to win giant-slalom and super-g golds later that same week.

Masahiko Harada: Harada soared an Olympic record-equalling 137 metres to ensure Japan team ski-jump gold in front of 50,000 of his own passionate fans in Nagano in 1998. For Harada it more than made up for the despair of missing out in Lillehammer four years earlier.

Katarina Witt: The graceful, elegant East German dazzled the judges to claim her first ice-skating gold medal in Sarajevo in 1984, and four years later beat American rival Debi Thomas to become the first woman in over half a century to retain her crown.

Eddie Edwards: The so-called Eagle did not exactly soar but he was crowned the people's champion of the 1988 Games in Calgary. The 24-year-old finished dead last but won hearts for his courage and jovial demeanour in the face of adversity.

Bonnie Blair: The brilliant American speed-skater scooped her first gold by shattering the 500metres world record in Calgary. Four years later she defended her title and added 1,000m gold. Blair repeated her double two years later to take her gold-medal haul to five.

Alberto Tomba: Bombastic Italian Tomba was not shy about the shining talent which made him the most decorated male alpine skier in Olympic history. Tomba won three golds, including the slalom and giant-slalom double in Calgary, and won five medals in total.

Georg Hackl: The greatest luger of all time, Hackl won medals at five consecutive Olympics including three consecutive golds in 1992, 1994 and 1998. The German was pipped into second place by Italy's Armin Zoggeler in the Salt Lake Games in 2002.

Jamaica: The Jamaican bobsleigh team caused a media storm when they arrived for the 1988 Games and promptly overturned in one of the early heats. But the Caribbean team fought on and ultimately inspired a major film, 'Cool Runnings', about their experience.