We see a battling, openmouthed, Mark Spitz en route to seven golds at Munich in 1972; there's the beautiful Nadia
Comaneci dismounting the asymmetric bars to record an unprecedented perfect score at Montreal in 1976 and there's that fantastic photograph of a delighted, arms-outstretched, Kelly Holmes winning the 1,500 metres at Athens in 2004.
Other household names converging on the palace - an Italian Renaissance castle where Monaco's ruling Grimaldi dynasty has resided for centuries - include French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Romanian gymnast Nadia
Comaneci, US soprano Renee Fleming and Giorgio Armani, the Italian designer who made Charlene's wedding gown.
WITH 14 Olympic golds between them, sprinter Carl Lewis and gymnast Nadia
Comaneci, both 49, turned out in London to add their backing to the Games yesterday.
The members of the Laureus World Sports Academy present at the event were Giacomo Agostini, Marcus Allen, Franz Beckenbauer, Boris Becker, Ian Botham, Sergey Bubka, Nadia
Comaneci, Kapil Dev, Emerson Fittipaldi, Sean Fitzpatrick, Dawn Fraser, Cathy Freeman, Mika Hakkinen, Tony Hawk, Mike Horn, Kip Keino, Edwin Moses, Nawal El Moutawakel, Robby Naish, Alexey Nemov, Morn du Plessis, Hugo Porta, Monica Seles, Daley Thompson, Alberto Tomba and Steve Waugh.
A few years ago, she saw
Comaneci at a restaurant near her home in Park City, Utah.
Last year, Jackson and Hasselhoff competed alongside HSH Prince Albert of Monaco, sports academy members and sports stars such as Peter Blake, Spitz, Edwin Moses, Nadia
Comaneci as well as Venus and Serena Williams.
Four years later, she retired from competition to became an instructor after the Montreal Games where, although overshadowed by Romanian youngster Nadia
Comaneci, she was a member of the victorious Soviet team and also won a silver medal for her performa nce on the balance beam.
We marvelled at 'perfect 10' performances from Olga Korbut and Nadia
Comaneci and didn't give a thought to the land without hope or glory.
BIRTHDAYS: Booker T Jones, soul musician, 71; Neil Young, singer/ songwriter, 70; Kevin Ratcliffe, former footballer, 55; Nadia
Comaneci, former gymnast, 54; Mariella Frostrup, TV presenter, 53; Tonya Harding, former figure skater, 45; Anne Hathaway, actress, 33.
The two contenders with the total lowest best scores from the first and second week will then face The Vault, where head judge Nadia
Comaneci will decide who to eliminate and who to save.
GYMNASTICS legend Nadia
Comaneci has spoken of her heartbreaking escape from communist Romania to the US.
I also remember the exploits of Olga Korbut and Nadia
Comaneci, who captivated the watching TV millions - most of whom didn't have a clue about gymnastics but were just transfixed by the drama and spectacle of it all.