Then Campbell looked up and realised what was rightly his was just as quickly being ripped away. The footage of the moment is almost cruel to watch. Campbell strode to the takeoff pad and found there was no foul there. Then he was directed to the runway judge who raised the red flag to say he scraped a leg. Campbell was agog. Cruel turnaround: The controversial jump that should have made Ian Campbell the triple jump gold medallist at the Moscow Olympics. He protested his innocence, but it fell on wilfully deaf ears. There were no independent international officials track-side – they had all been pulled from the Olympics – only Soviet functionaries who stared blankly at him. The pit was quickly raked and with it his gold medal was swept aside. It was 1980 and Campbell was the victim of a great sporting injustice. He was fouled for allegedly scraping his trailing right foot at takeoff. His jump of 17.50m was disallowed. It would have beaten the Olympic record of 17.39 and it clearly beat the gold medal-winning jump of 17.35m. Campbell's name ought to have been a big one in Australian sport as an Olympic gold medallist ... but it is not. His name has been a trivia question, a byword for Cold War Olympic farce. Shirley Delahunty's name, in contrast, is one of the biggest in Australian sport. Yet she, too, was denied a medal at the 1948 Olympics.

Delahunty (Strickland) was said by officials judging with the naked eye and stopwatches to have run fourth in the 200 metres final. They were so sure they never thought to check the photo-finish footage. Delahunty never complained, just shrugged and walked off. When that footage was checked by a researcher in 1975, it was discovered Delahunty had, in fact, run third and should have had another Olympic bronze medal added to her haul of three Olympic gold, one silver and three bronze. "This only further enhances Shirley's status as one of Australia's greatest ever athletes," Athletics Australia president David Grace said. Australia has applied to the IAAF and the International Olympic Committee for gold and bronze medals to be retrospectively awarded to Campbell and Strickland. They have not asked for medals to be stripped from other athletes but for two new medals to be awarded. There is a precedent at Olympic and World Athletics Championships levels for additional medals to be awarded due to judging mistakes. In 1984, French hurdler Michele Chardonnet was later discovered to have run a dead heat for third, not fourth, and was awarded a bronze medal a year later. "We just want justice for our athletes." Ian Campbell ought to be recognised as an Olympic gold medallist," Grace said. "I was a jumper, we all knew about this injustice to Ian. When I took over I wanted to fix this."

Grace commissioned Victoria University biomechanics experts to review Campbell's jump and their independent report concluded not only that he did not scrape his foot, but also confirmed the distance he jumped was an Olympic record and he should have won gold. That paper, which forms a significant part of AA's application to the world governing bodies, has been reviewed and endorsed by international experts. "In terms of my athletic life, it was a catastrophe," Campbell said. "It's just mindboggling to think now a gold medal could be awarded. It is satisfying that the scientists have proven how far I jumped, that I didn't scrape. I am so appreciative David and AA recognise that and are pushing this. Professionally, going through life in the athletics industry and dealing with people like Carl Lewis and Sergei Bubka, Seb Coe they all know the story, they would mention it to me and say it was an outrage," Campbell said. "My career ended just over 18 months later from an ankle injury. I was done at 24 so that issue weighed heavily on me. I was lucky I ended up in a sports career, I worked at Nike for a long time and was CEO of Richmond and everything else but it would always come up." Campbell said he was dismayed to discover years later when Fairfax journalist Roy Masters wrote a book Higher, Richer, Sleazier he had been the victim of a conspiracy by multinational shoe companies.

"Mizuno had sponsored the Olympic torch relay and the Soviet athletes wore adidas, which is their historic sponsor, so it was agreed upon between the two shoe companies and other officials that the Soviets needed to win an event that they had a legitimate chance of winning anyway and that was the triple jump," Campbell said. Victor Sinayev was the three-time Olympic gold medallist going into the Games and so it was felt before the Games the Soviets were a strong chance for gold. "Both Jaak Uudmae and Victor Sinayev wore Mizuno not adidas in the Olympic final." Uudmae and Saneyev won gold and silver. Brazil's Joao Carlos de Oliviera won bronze but he, too, had been dubiously fouled on jumps that should have placed him higher. Grace said regardless of the motive behind Campbell being fouled the footage was clear and the scientific study verified Campbell legally jumped and should have won gold. "We want to achieve justice for our athlete. The nature of sport is to ensure fairness and that includes fairness in judging." "The Olympic Games is meant to be the pinnacle of sporting achievement sporting fairness and everyone being on a level playing field.

"We just want that fairness and justice for our athletes."