It’s forty years to the day since the Olympics that nearly never were, writes James Toney.
And for a British Olympic Association official at the heart of one of sport’s most gripping off-field dramas, it still feels like yesterday.
Dick Palmer headed the British team at ten Olympics but the 86-year old’s memories of Moscow 1980 perhaps burn brighter than any other.
Five legends of British sport left those Games with gold medals – Seb Coe, Steve Ovett, Daley Thompson, Duncan Goodhew and Allan Wells.
But if it had not been for the steely resolve of an unassuming one-time PE teacher from Pembroke Dock, they’d never have got on the plane.
More words & Images – https://www.teamgb.com/news/moscow-40-years-on-remembering-the-olympics-that-nearly-never-were
