Robyn Glynn told Sydney radio that her father George Avery, who died in 2006, had wanted to attend the London Olympics because it was where he won second place in the triple jump, then known as the hop, step and jump, in 1948.

So the family booked tickets for the triple jump final, and took his remains along. “We decided in 2000 that we were going to bring my father back here but unfortunately he passed away a few years ago,” she told ABC radio.