Godfrey Rampling, who has died aged 100, was the oldest surviving British Olympic gold medal winner and an inspiration to his nation at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games.
Britain's 4x400m relay runners are renowned, but no performance has exceeded that of the Berlin four who won their gold medal in the second fastest time of their era, pinning the US and Germany into second and third places under the gaze of the German leader Adolf Hitler. Rampling, a handsome 6ft 1in, took the second-lap baton from Freddy Wolff, struggling four yards behind the Americans. From there Rampling ran the lap of his life, in 46.6 seconds, to provide a five-yard lead for Bill Roberts, which Godfrey Brown then converted into gold by 15 yards in 3min 09.0sec. Only once before had the Americans been beaten in this event.
Later Rampling - a young Royal Artillery officer, who would be known as "The Colonel" for the rest of his long life - recalled: "I never felt so good as that day. I seemed to float around the track, passing people without effort." Harold Abrahams, whose 100-yard victory figured so powerfully in Chariots of Fire, the 1981 film depicting the British successes of 1924, described Rampling's run as "the most gloriously heaven-sent quarter-mile I have ever seen", and it was strongly featured in Olympia, Leni Riefenstahl's epic, if controversial, film of the Games.
Hitler's Nuremberg laws of 1935 had been unequivocal in their racial attack and, unlike some teams, the British offered no Hitler salute at the opening ceremony march-past, only the traditional eyes right. In Joseph Goebbels's newspaper, Der Angriff (The Attack), black athletes taking part in the Games, such as Jesse Owens, who was to win the 100 and 200 metres, the long jump, and a fourth gold in the 100 metres relay, were described as "black auxiliaries". Hitler accorded Owens no congratulation, although the International Olympic Committee required one for any medallist.
Relay racing, then as now, was a closing highlight of the Games, with national sentiment much to the fore, but Rampling described his training for it as a farce. "Just running around the cricket ground twice a week at my army camp, or running up and down in short bursts." He did suggest some baton-passing practice to the other three, "but we soon got bored and packed it in". Their answer to an Olympics framed by detailed organisation, TV cameras, swastikas, Sieg Heils and Deutschland über Alles was evident on the track.
Rampling was born in Greenwich, London, and had an early ambition to become a soldier. It was at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich that Walter George, an international miler, worked upon Rampling's track enthusiasm. Rampling was to remain a serving officer until 1958, when he retired with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. After winning the army 880-yard title in 1930, Rampling concentrated on the 440 yards and 400 metres for the rest of his running career.
A septic tooth upset his preparations for the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games, but with a quartet including Lord Burghley, another whose achievements would be depicted in Chariots of Fire, he won silver in the relay. Recovering slowly from a blood disorder, he ran 48.0 seconds on a soggy White City track at the 1934 Empire Games 440 yards, breaking a British record established in 1908.
Few thought the British relay performance at the Berlin Olympics diminished by the fact that the Americans omitted two of their top runners. Archie Williams and James LuValle, gold and bronze medallists from the individual event, were replaced by runners deemed to be fresher for the event in hand. Rampling was living proof that relays could unearth special talents. While Brown and Roberts finished second and fourth in the individual Berlin final, Rampling missed out in his semi-final with a fourth-place 47.5 seconds, which was nevertheless a lifetime personal best. A White City crowd of 90,000 cheered a homecoming meeting where they again beat the US, but with a Canadian, Bill Fritz, replacing Wolff, their 3min 10.6sec did not count as a world record.
Rampling served throughout the second world war, and his appointments included a post with Nato before his retirement in 1958. He maintained his sporting interests by becoming secretary of Stanmore Golf Club, and was involved as a founder member with Milocarian athletics, the military version of the Oxbridge Achilles Club. He was deeply upset when, early in the war, his gold medal was lost in the post while being sent to a friend for safekeeping. A duplicate was made for him.
Rampling's wife, Anne, a painter, died in 2001, and he is survived by their daughter, the actor Charlotte, who was among family and friends attending his 100th birthday celebrations at a Bushey nursing home a month before his death. He said then: "It's all a question of people doing something and really feeling they are getting something done." Another daughter predeceased him.