Sporting Bygones: Anita Lonsbrough: No Jimmy Choo shoes as golden girl of the Eternal City makes splash

Then – for the first time – our man behind the BBC microphone lost all semblance of sanity as it appeared Anita Lonsbrough, the former world record-holder from Huddersfield, was about to be overhauled by her long-standing rival Wiltrud Urselmann.

It had appeared only moments earlier to be a foregone conclusion as Lonsbrough had timed her challenge to perfection, edging ever closer to her target on the third length then inching away from her great West German foe as they headed into the closing 50m.

Urselmann somehow found the strength to fight back and Lonsbrough's narrow but comfortable lead was remorselessly cut down. Thankfully for the British Olympic legend, the pride of Yorkshire just held on as they stretched to make the first, decisive touch.

Years later she would recall: "Even when I stood on the podium I was thinking 'I hope this isn't a dream and I am going to wake up'."

It wasn't and she didn't but that August day in 1960, when she broke the heart of Urselmann and regained the world record to boot, came back to her in every detail 48 years later when Rebecca Adlington won the gold medal in the 400m freestyle in the Beijing Games, Britain's first triumph in the Olympic pool since Lonsbrough's career-defining moment.

Lonsbrough, now the respected swimming correspondent of a national newspaper, said: "As she raced down that final 50m, I became emotional with a tear or two in the eyes and a lump in my throat.

"When she touched and her name appeared on the scoreboard the memories came flooding back. In Rome in 1960 I was 19 plus a few days, some six months younger than Rebecca.

"We had both qualified for the final in second spot behind the world record-holder and we were both behind until the final length, although I did not leave it as late as Rebecca did."

There the similarities ended: being an Olympic champion was far different in 1960 to what it had become by the time Adlington became a star overnight, earning fame and rewards far beyond her imaginings during those countless freezing mornings when she rose from her bed and headed for the endless grind of the training pool.

Anita Lonsbrough had first come to the attention of the non-swimming public at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games at the brand-new pool at Cardiff when she took two golds, including one in what would become her Olympic event although in those days British and Commonwealth events were still measured in yards while the rest of the world were happy with metres.

She followed up with two more medals – one silver, one bronze – in the same year's European Championships in Hungary and by the time Rome came round she was an obvious medal hope. In the end, only she and 50km walker Don Thompson returned home with gold from the Eternal City.

For Lonsbrough, the time to enjoy her success was at best fleeting. "There was little time to dwell on it; when I came out of the pool I went round doing interview after interview with no time to get dry.

"Then I sat in my soggy swimsuit for half an hour before a BBC programme leading on my victory opened with Peter Dimmock, the presenter in those days, holding my gold medal for all to see before they showed the tape of my race.

"My mother, aunt and cousin Joyce had all made the journey to Rome by rail to watch me swim but my poor father, still at home in Huddersfield, had the embarrassment of having a film crew with him while he watched the programme."

Lonsbrough and some of her team-mates joined in a Champagne celebration that evening courtesy of the British Olympic Association but the following morning there was another round of interviews and Lonsbrough added: "Lottery money, in fact sponsorship of any kind, was not allowed so I worked as a clerk in the Borough Treasurer's office at Huddersfield Council.

"To prepare for Rome, I had taken holiday and extra unpaid leave and somehow the media got hold of that and the next day the headlines were all about how much it had cost to win gold. I'm so glad that swimmers and their parents don't have to make sacrifices like that any more."

There were no Jimmy Choo shoes for Lonsbrough, only a day to look round Rome then it was back to the office in Huddersfield and her proud colleagues. "They kept my feet on the ground," she recalls. "After I did my first full week's work after getting back, they carried me out of the office; they thought I must be tired."

Tired maybe, but not yet finished with swimming. Lonsbrough went on set five more world records, to compete successfully in the 1962 European Championships in Leipzig and the same year's Empire and Commonwealth Games in Australia and had the honour at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics of being asked to carry the flag at the opening ceremony.

On her way to Japan, she had met cyclist Hugh Porter and the couple would marry the following year.

Porter became world pursuit champion and later, with his unmistakable Wolverhampton tones, became the voice of British cycling at all the major races in the country.

Mrs Lonsbrough-Porter became the first woman winner of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1962; the following year she was awarded the MBE for services to swimming and in 1983 she was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

Lonsbrough's medal haul

1958 European Championships – Budapest

Silver – 200m breaststroke

Bronze – 4x100m medley

1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games – Cardiff

Gold – 220-yard breaststroke

Gold – 4x110-yard medley

1960 Olympic Games – Rome

Gold – 200m breaststroke

1962 European Championships – Leipzig

Gold – 200m breaststroke

Silver – 400m individual medley

Bronze – 4x100m medley

1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games – Perth

Gold – 110-yard breaststroke

Gold – 220-yard breaststroke

Gold – 440-yard individual medley

Silver – 4x110-yard medley