He was there to steal a kiss from Yvette

Of all the kisses Ron Waugh has stolen during his life,  there is one that really sticks out.

He gave Olympic champion and Dunedin darling Yvette Williams a peck on the cheek shortly after she jumped into the history books with an record leap of 6.24m  to win gold at the 1952 Games in Helsinki.

How’s that for a story.

And the 92-year-old has the photo to prove it.

That’s him, third from  the left and looking dapper. Can you imagine getting that close to the Olympic champ these days? Mr Waugh did.

He set off from Dunedin a year earlier with a cobber, sport journalist Graeme Jenkins.

The pair had just under  £200 between them and much, much less when they had shelled out the £84  each to pay for the five and a-half week long boat trip from Wellington to the United Kingdom.

They got jobs in the United Kingdom before making their way to Europe and eventually to Finland in time for the Olympics.

‘‘I’d heard of this great Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi and I thought, ‘Right, I’m going to see this’,’’ he said. ‘‘And who was carrying to torch to light the Olympic flame —  Paavo Nurmi. It made my Games.’’

There were more treats.

Czechoslovakian runner Emil Zatopek dominated the long distance running event. He won gold in the 5000m, 10,000m and the marathon — the only person to win all three of them at the same Games.

Remarkably he only entered the marathon — his first — at the last minute.

But watching Williams soar through the air was incredible.

‘‘It was brilliant, I tell ya. Brilliant.

‘‘It was the greatest thrill. She had two no jumps and took the mark back about four inches and broke the record.’’

‘‘I saw Jean Stewart and Lincoln Hurring, both from Dunedin, compete as well.

Stewart won bronze in the women’s 100m backstroke.

Mr Waugh has a new favourite athlete these days.

Kayak queen Lisa Carrington collected two more gold medals on Tuesday to go with the two golds and bronze from London and Rio. He put it rather succinctly: ‘‘She’s marvellous.’’

Indeed.