The one blot on Colin Jackson's copybook is the fact that he never did win an Olympic gold medal. Aged 22, the British hurdler won silver in Seoul, but that was to be the only medal of any colour that he would pick up at the Games, despite the fact that he went on to compete in Barcelona, Atlanta and Sydney.
With that in mind, there are those that have doubted the credentials of the Welshman, who some believed succumbed to pressure in the big races.
But, it was 22 years ago today in Stuttgart that Jackson proved beyond any doubt that he should be regarded as one of the very best sprint hurdlers of all time.
Having won his heat and semi-final with relative ease, Jackson was the big favourite to win World Athletics Championship gold in Germany. Yet, what he produced was far beyond what everyone and perhaps even Jackson himself had anticipated.
After he had powered out of the blocks, Jackson was first to reach the first hurdle, which he cleared comfortably. From that moment, his fluency over each barrier was a joy to watch as the Cardiff-born athlete strode away from the rest of the field.
His trademark early dip for the line saw the clock stop on 12.91 seconds - a time that shaved one hundredth of a second off Richard Kingdom's four-year-old world record.
"I can't really complain. I knew after the rounds what shape I was in and it only goes to prove that Colin Jackson is right there as the world's best hurdler," he said straight after the race.
Jackson reflected more deeply on that achievement with The Guardian 10 years later when he added: "I just expected to win this race as I was unbeaten going into Stuttgart and thought all I needed to do was hold my form. I didn't really believe I had run 12.91 at the time as the world record was a hundredth of a second slower and I was convinced it would be rounded up.
"At the time I was more excited about winning championships than setting a world record. One of my biggest ambitions was to perform well at championships.
"I knew if I did that I was going to run fast anyway. I had no fears about what had happened in Barcelona during the 1992 Olympics because I wasn't injured."
It was also a memorable race for Jackson's fellow Brit Tony Jarrett, who in knocking 0.13 seconds off his personal best to run 13 seconds flat, claimed the silver medal.
Liam Apicella
