Olympics star and Shropshire's greatest runner Robbie Brightwell dies at 82

One of the iconic images of the games was Brightwell and his fiancee Ann Packer embracing after her sensational and unexpected victory in the 800 metres made her the British golden girl of the event.

Brightwell's talent was clear from an early age when as head boy at Trench Secondary Modern School he set a number of school running records.

His reputation as an emerging star was enhanced by his performances on the then cinder track at Shrewsbury Technical College.

A Shropshire record he set in 1957 in the under-20s men's 200 metres was equalled, but was not actually broken until 2016.

After an impressive Olympic debut in 1960 at Rome where he twice smashed the UK and national record for the 400 metres, but did not qualify for the final, his continued rise saw him win national acclaim, and he ran the race of his life to lift the European 440 yards title in Belgrade in September 1962.

Robbie, who ran for Birchfield Harriers, went to Tokyo as skipper of the British team and as a couple he and Ann were already capturing the public's imagination and making headlines.

Although his hopes in the 400 metres were disappointed – he finished fourth in the final – he went on to run a stunning 44.8 second split to take silver in the 4×400 metres relay.

But it was his fiancee who stole the show, first taking a silver in the 400m before becoming the first British woman to win a track gold medal at the Olympics – it was another 40 years before another British woman, Kelly Holmes, would repeat that glory.

Famously Ann's chances in the 800m were thought so slim that she considered going shopping instead, but Robbie persuaded her to compete.

According to a tribute in Athletics Weekly by former UK Athletics Director of Coaching Frank Dick, Robbie was the greatest British Olympic captain of all time, leading the 1964 team to the best performance of the modern era – four golds, seven silvers and one bronze – while also changing the nation's athletics culture.

The couple wed in December 1964 and retired from the track.

Made MBEs in 1965, they had three sons, Gary, Ian and David, the latter two becoming footballers with Manchester City.

Brightwell was born in Rawalpindi in 1939 and the family came back to Britain in 1946 and he was brought up in Donnington, the family home being in East Avenue.

Athletics was not the only string to his bow, as he was also a talented goalkeeper who played for Donnington Swifts in his youth.

By the time of his marriage he was no longer living in Donnington – he was a physical training master at a school in Kingston, Surrey – and his parents moved from Donnington to a posting in Germany in 1965.

Later he and Ann lived in Cheshire, but would return to Shropshire from time to time, such as in 2006 when they came to see Shrewsbury's new athletics track being created in London Road.

In 2007 Ann arranged a romantic surprise visit for Robbie's birthday to the grave in Much Wenlock of Dr William Penny Brookes, who had founded the Wenlock Olympian Games which helped inspire the modern Olympics.

The couple left a bunch of white roses and a card, with Robbie explaining: “We wanted to go to Much Wenlock to pay homage to Dr Brookes who really brought us together. It was as much a love story about my wife and I as about my wife and I and Dr Brookes.”

In 2009 the couple were guests of honour at the games in the Shropshire town, and among other local visits the pair gave out the awards to children and adults at the 2012 Bayley Mile race in Wellington.

After a spell of teaching and as a lecturer, Brightwell went into business. In 2019 he was inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame.

He is survived by his wife and sons.