Every four years a fairy tale or two frames the Olympic experience, leaving any witness numb and putting words in the record book that look like fantasy.

At the Athens Olympics on a last late night at the track, teams of men prepared in the stifling heat for the final of the 100-metre relay. The stadium was swaying, giddy with beer and pride, and off in the hazy distance the centre of the great city was glowing with neon and howling with thousands of honking cars. The Greeks had done it. The stadium's DJ was getting ready to play Horos Tou Zorba for the last time; each night every fan had stayed behind after the action had ended on their glorious field to dance to the theme from Zorba the Greek.

On that final Saturday, four British runners walked out to the slaughter. It had been a dreadful Olympics for the sprinters: Jason Gardener, Marlon Devonish, Mark Lewis-Francis and the Moss Side boy Darren Campbell had all failed to reach either the 100m or 200m final. Campbell was the only one to reach a semi-final. In Sydney, four years earlier, the relay team had been disqualified in the opening heat.

The failings of the British sprinters had been at the core of an outburst or two from the BBC's highly-paid pundit Michael Johnson. It hurt, it was personal and the men felt they deserved better. Campbell confronted the former 200m and 400m Olympic champion at an Athens nightclub. The indignation was turning malevolent and as the four took to the track there was something nasty in their eyes. They had been labelled donkeys and that hurt.

"Don't worry," Campbell had told me a few hours earlier.

In Sydney, the Americans had won gold in the relay and their brilliant quartet was very happy in Athens. Justin Gatlin won gold in the 100 metres and bronze in the 200 metres. Shawn Crawford won gold in the 200 metres and was fourth in the 100 metres. Maurice Greene collected a bronze in the 100 metres. All three finished inside 10 seconds in the shorter event. Coby Miller ran under 10 seconds at the USA trials and finished fourth behind his three relay partners.

With Greene the fastest man in the world, a record Gatlin would break (though it was stripped from him when he was given a four-year ban for drug abuse in 2006), it was a sprint dream team. World records were on the menu and annihilation of all contenders looked certain.

The day before the final the USA team had strolled to victory in their semi-final, finishing six metres in front of the GB team, who were at full tilt. The loss against the smiling, beaming and smirking Americans added to the rage on the night of the final. In the press seats there were one or two murmurs, people were talking about the altercation involving Johnson; it has never gone away.

On the night the GB boys showed no emotion, they just took deep breaths on their spots. The USA team laughed, joked, winked and posed smug faces to the cameras, clicking their fingers firing bullets from imaginary guns. It was a mad moment, but Crawford had been guilty previously of acting the clown before and during races, having been disqualified for running out of his lane when his Phantom of the Opera mask slipped during a race.

The real gun was ready. There was a false start and it was Gardener. Then, the first leg starts a second time and Crawford, the Prince of the Bend, takes off. But Gardener is with him, still nothing showing on his face and it's a bad exchange for the Americans. Did Gardener rattle Crawford? It looks that way and Gardener is now smiling.

The back straight and the 100m champion Gatlin is against Campbell and it happens, Campbell holds him, stays with him and Gatlin is not smiling at the exchange and has a nightmare with the baton. Gatlin and Miller clash, there are no silly faces now and no standing anywhere in the stadium. Gatlin stepped on Miller's shoe. Now there is emotion in Campbell's face as he screams as Devonish takes off on the last bend. It was the sweetest of exchanges, technical brilliance.

Devonish glides and Miller is wearing a flesh mask of fear. On the last exchange line Greene, one of the greatest sprinters in history, looks back for Miller. Looks back...nobody can believe he has made such a crucial error. In a flash that is barely measurable but is a lifetime in the sprinting game, Devonish hands to Lewis-Francis. It is time for Lewis-Francis to strike back at his critics, put right some wrongs; sprinters need a bit of anger, they are like fighters.

Lewis-Francis is gone but Greene is closing the gap at 60m, 70m, 80m and 90m, but it is not enough. Lewis- Francis holds him off and the GB team win gold in 38:07 with the American kings of speed finishing second at 38:08. It is .01 for gold and redemption.

The Americans slowly gather in shock and awe at the beating that millions have just watched. The four underdogs, meanwhile, just keep smiling.

"I told you not to worry," Campbell tells me hours later.