BBC 2's history of the Olympics now tells the story of the blue riband event of any Games - the 1500 metres, or metric mile. This was the race that gave Britain its finest Olympic hour in Los Angeles in 1984 when three British world champions competed for gold - Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett and Steve Cram.

Travelling to the many and varied environments that have helped shape the greatest 1500m runners - from the forests of Finland to the beaches of Australia, from the city streets and country lanes of Britain to the high altitude terrains of Kenya and Morocco - it reveals that although the race is run on a track, it is ultimately won on punishing training runs in natural landscapes.

With contributions from some of the greatest Olympians ever to run the 1500m - Kip Keino, Herb Elliot, Peter Snell, Sebastian Coe and the current world record holder Hicham El Guerrouj - the programme shows that to win 1500m gold, athletes need the stamina of marathon runners, the explosive speed of the best sprinters and the tactical brains of chess masters.