Olympic legend Steve Ovett celebrated his return to his home city with a jog along the seafront.

The athletics star has jetted in from Australia to officially start the first ever Brighton Marathon on Sunday.

He flew in on Wednesday night and spent yesterday taking in some of his favourite parts of the city.

Ovett, 54, said: “Coming back to start the marathon is a real honour.

“It was a long trip to get back here but definitely worth it.

“It sounds like I made it just in time considering all the problems with the airports caused by the volcano ash coming down.

“It is great to be back in my home town and I'm really looking forward to it."

Ovett is one of Britain’s greatest athletes, taking Olympic 800m gold in Moscow 1980 as well as setting world mile and 1,500m records.

He grew up in Brighton, went to Varndean School and trained at Withdean.