Chariots of Fire tells the story of two athletes at the Paris 1924 Games in a film dedicated to "those few young men with hope in our hearts and wings on our heels".

Script writer Colin Welland once ascribed 40 per cent of the film's success to the music of Vangelis.

The film’s producer Lord David Puttnam was among those to pay tribute to the composer.

"I think Vangelis created a new landscape, a new musical landscape, that many other composers have taken advantage of," Lord Puttnam told the BBC.

It is now 40 years since the music of Vangelis won the Academy Award for best musical score.

His suite includes a theme for Harold Abrahams, the 100 metres champion played by Ben Cross and Eric’s Theme for Eric Liddell, a Scottish runner and missionary who won 400m gold, portrayed in the film by Ian Charleson.

There was also an arrangement of the famous hymn Jerusalem.

Yet most the renowned of all the tracks very nearly did not make the picture.

Vangelis once recalled that director Hugh Hudson had originally decided to use another of his tracks entitled “L’Enfant” for the famous opening sequence where the athletes run across the beach at St Andrews.

"I wrote the score and was not very happy, because I wanted to do something better for the beginning, and then at the last minute I succeeded to convince Hugh and David to play the Chariots of Fire that we know," Vangelis recalled.

L’Enfant, did eventually feature in The Year of Living Dangerously, a 1982 film starring Mel Gibson, but the theme Chariots of Fire is now instantly synonymous with athletics and the Olympic Games.

It is so highly regarded that it was included in an affectionate pastiche by comedian Rowan Atkinson at the London 2012 Opening Ceremony.

Producers explained it was "to honour Britain's cinematic tradition and the film most associated with the Olympic Games."

It was also used at the victory ceremonies for London 2012.

Vangelis himself performed a special arrangement of the music at the Opening Ceremony of the 1997 World Athletics Championships in the historic Panathenaic Stadium in Athens.

In a performance that he had designed and directed, he was joined by opera singer Montserrat Caballé for a spectacle that made extensive use of light projection and included his own arrangement of the Greek national anthem.

As Athens prepared to receive the Olympic Flag at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, Vangelis was appointed creator and director of the handover. 

He worked with Olympic Flame lighting choreographer Maria Horss to produce a moving music and light sequence.

"The High Priestess and 21 priestesses carry the flag from the stage signalling the return of the Olympics to their birthplace," said the official media guide.

Vangelis, born Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou, had begun his career in a Greek progressive rock band called Aphrodite's Child but soon his name would become internationally known.

Recognition came with "Jon and Vangelis", his collaboration with Jon Anderson and then with superb cinematographic scores for Blade Runner and 1492: Conquest of Paradise, Missing and Antarctica.

He also wrote a memorable theme to accompany the "Race against Time", a mass charity run organised by Bob Geldof as part of Sports Aid to raise money and awareness of worldwide hunger in 1986. 

His music accompanied Sudanese runner Omar Khalifa as he lit a cauldron at the United Nations building in New York.

Vangelis later composed the official music for the 2002 FIFA World Cup held in South Korea and Japan.