Suddenly a television commentary from 48 years ago reverberates around the stadium.

"The world record has been taken apart."

They are the words of BBC television commentator David Coleman, describing an astonishing performance by Tanzania’s Filbert Bayi in the men’s 1500 metres at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch.

It was a race for the ages which shattered the world record for the distance.

The event was chosen for inclusion in the montage by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF).

"Whenever I see the race and listen to the commentary, I feel like my legs want to go back to the track again," Bayi told insidethegames.

"I never get tired of talking about it, John Walker is now my friend and whenever we meet, we talk and dream," he said.

Back in 1974, Bayi arrived in New Zealand as the All African Games 1500 metres gold medallist.

"I had the fastest time when I went to Christchurch, but nobody was talking about me, it was like I was underground," Bayi recalled.

“Because John Walker was a native of New Zealand, they were taking so much about John Walker and not about me," he continued.

"For me there wasn’t a chance they said, but I did it."

So often a 1500 metres race is tactical, but Bayi simply set off at the front and was never headed.

"Its very close to the world record - Bayi wins, Walker next, jipcho next," said commentator Coleman as they crossed the line.

When the clock stopped at 3:32.16 it was indeed the fastest race there had ever been.

Walker was also inside the existing record which had been held by American Jim Ryun since 1967.

Five national records were also broken.

"I knew that it was special, because these records are not broken in the big championships like Commonwealth Games or Olympic Games," Bayi reflected.

"People are not going there to break records, they are going there to win medals,

"It was the same even for myself, but I just changed the technique of my running and I knew that something could happen." 

When the two men had finished, it was the beginning of a lifelong friendship.

"We shook hands, we hugged each other and we are friends until today," Bayi said.

"When we are on track we are foes but otherwise we are friends."

The pair meet up regularly and Bayi has donated his running vest for auction to raise funds for a charity funding research into Parkinson's.

Walker had announced that he is suffering from the condition.

"I was glad to sell my singlet to raise funds," Bayi said.

Walker went on to win Olympic gold at the 1976 Montreal Olympics when Bayi was unable to compete. 

Tanzania boycotted the Games, ironically because of a rugby union tour to South Africa made by New Zealand.

Bayi did race in Canada at the 1978 Commonwealth Games, where he won silver behind David Moorcroft of England in Edmonton.

Bayi's world record for the 1500m was not broken until the following year.

In 1979, Bayi had been confined to his hospital bed with malaria when his world record time was lowered by Sebastian Coe.

"I was in the hospital in Germany when Sebastian Coe did it, I was suffering from malaria," Bayi recalled.

"I was watching on TV, If I could have been there, perhaps we could have taken the record further," he ventured.

Bayi did return to the track in time for the 1980 Moscow Olympics where he won steeplechase silver behind Bronislaw Malinowski of Poland.

Bayi’s example as an inspirational standard bearer was followed by marathoner Gidemas Shahanga who took gold in the marathon at Edmonton 1978.

Shahanga is now a leading official with the Tanzanian Athletics Association.

Before Birmingham, Tanzania had not won a Commonwealth Games medal since 2006.

When the Queen’s Baton Relay came to the capital Dar es Salaam earlier this year, it fell to Bayi to present the Baton to Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

"It is a wake-up call to regain lost glory," President Hassan said at the Ceremony.

Marathoner Samson Ramadhani Nyonyi had been the most recent Tanzanian Commonwealth champion but this week in Birmingham, Alphonce Felix Simbu won marathon silver.

"Now after 12 years, we have the silver medal in 2022, and that gives us hope that there is more to come," Bayi said.

Bayi still relishes his involvement with Tanzanian sport as the Secretary of the Tanzanian Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association.

"I have been an administrator for a long time since I finished running and my university education," Bayi explained.

He has also established the "Filbert Bayi School" to help develop promising youngsters.

"I have a programme in my school, in which I take young athletes, give them scholarships, they train, they go to school, go to high school, and then to university in America.

"I am proud of that because sending them there, they will have high performance coaches and they will perform and they will aim for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris and also Los Angeles 2028," he predicted.

It is perhaps unsurprising that Bayl's initiative echoes that of his contemporary Kip Keino in Kenya.

The pair competed at the 1972 Munich Olympics when Bayi was only 19.

"It was my first Olympic Games in Munich, we were all in the same heat in the 1500 metres and in the steeplechase," Bayi remembered.

"I was at the Olympic Games drawn in the outer lane.

"He said go inside. He was helping me on that, because he appreciated that I was young,

"Kipchoge Keino for me, I might say, is my father. 

"He is the one athlete I admired, he is my role model."

It was not long before Bayi defeated his idol on the track and Keino went briefly to the International Track Association (ITA), a professional circuit before retiring and later becoming a senior figure in athletics.

"When he set up that school, i said I would do the same to give something back to my people," he said.

"I was coaching also but I would rather be in the office with the Olympic Committee - it is the main organiser I am prouder to be an administrator than a coach."

Bayi has now set down his memories in a book entitled Catch Me If You Can.

This was published only last week and features a picture of that famous race on the front cover.

Profits will go towards the school.

To this day, no-one has ever run a faster 1500m in the Commonwealth Games than Bayi in 1974.

"Before I die, I want to see the record broken, if it is broken without me seeing, it isn’t very healthy," Bayi suggested.

"If they will break it, I will be the happiest man in the world.

"Perhaps the most devastating piece of front running by any athlete in any middle distance event," was Coleman’s assessment in his television commentary.

It is perhaps no wonder that Bayi, now 67, still feels the urge to "take the world record apart" once again.

Long may he continue to do so.