Every four years, Olympic year, the same debate surfaces.Why hasn't more been done to recognise our only Olympic medallist, Clarence Hill?Somebody last week suggested a street name, a statue (if Johnny Barnes has one, why not Hill?), maybe a sports facility, although Government have never thought a boxing gym would be a sound investment, to commemorate our Olympic hero.Given the fact that violence is the Island's most pressing problem, a gym, one would have thought, was worth consideration. Almost all of the world's top boxers have emerged from slums or ghettos, using the punch bag as a way of escaping the gun culture which prevailed in their environment.Maybe something similar could help alleviate some of the social ills here.Aside of that, the Hill issue prompts an interesting argument.He might be the only Bermudian to have won a medal. But that does make him the Island's greatest Olympian?Perhaps not. In fact, some would say, not at all.We've had equally or more talented athletes in their respective disciplines where the competition has been far tougher.For those who can't remember, or too young to remember, Hill's medal was claimed in the 1976 Games in Montreal, a Games boycotted by almost all of the African nations and a few others in protest of the International Olympic Committee's refusal to ban New Zealand, whose rugby team had been touring South Africa.At that time, South Africa had been excluded from many international sporting events due to the implementation of apartheid policy.Thus every sport was weakened in terms of participation, including boxing.As for Hill, these are the facts:He fought three bouts, winning two and losing one.In an entry of 20, he was given a first round bye, thus entering the final 16.In his opening fight he destroyed Parviz Badpa of Iran, knocking him out in the third and final round.In his second, Hill beat Belgium's Raudy Gauwe on points 5-0 (the way judges scored Olympic bouts, not the way they scored them in London).And in the semi-final, he was comprehensively defeated on points (5-0) by Mircea Simon of Romania..That might have been a blessing in disguise as he would have then had to fight the eventual gold medallist, the legendary Teofilo Stevenson who sadly passed away earlier this year. He remains the only heavyweight to have won the gold medal at three successive Games.No surprise, Stevenson knocked Simon out in the final, the same way he had disposed of most of his opponents. He reportedly was offered some $5 million to turn professional and fight Muhammad Ali but remained loyal to Cuba.“What's 5 million dollars worth when I have the love of 5 million Cubans?” he was quoted as saying.Not to take anything away from the Bermudian's performance, indeed he beat two formidable fighters, but there's no disputing he was the beneficiary of considerable good fortune.Others who have represented Bermuda on the Olympic stage, but have not come away with anything to show for their efforts, include the likes of sprinter Troy Douglas, triple jumper Brian Wellman, Star class sailors Peter Bromby and Lee White, and tornado sailors Chris Burland and Alan Nash.All of them emerged from far stronger fields with their heads held high.Douglas reached three Olympic semi-finals, two in the 400 metres and one in the 200 metres. In doing so he had to record faster times than three-quarters of those who ran in the heats. That probably required a time quicker than more than 50 runners.Wellman not only reached the final of the triple jump in two Games, but placed fifth at Barcelona in 1992 and sixth in Atlanta in 1996, from an entry exceeding 20.Burland and Nash took fifth in Los Angeles in 1984 and perhaps the most unfortunate of all were Bromby and White whose medal hopes were torpedoed in the final race of the regatta in Sydney 2000 when they seemed certain to earn a place on the podium. The event had attracted the very best Star class sailors from around the globe, no exceptions.Fourth in an Olympic Games is as good as last. You come away with nothing.It was the worst place imaginable for the two Bermudians.A Commonwealth or Pan Am Games gold isn't considered as precious as an Olympic gold. But how does it compare with an Olympic bronze?Most would say an Olympic medal of any colour outweighs any other, even those presented at World Championships.Clarence (Nicky) Saunders took the Commonwealth gold in Auckland in 1990, Mary Jane Tumbridge the Pan Am gold in Winnipeg in 1998.Saunders' high jump record of 2.36 metres still stands, 22 years later.Equestrian Tumbridge went to the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 confident she could emulate her success in Winnipeg. Tragically her horse, Bermuda Gold, fell, broke a leg and had to be put down.It remains, perhaps, the saddest occasion in Bermuda's long Olympic history.Could she have medalled? We'll never know.So Hill still rests on top of the pile. Nobody has been able to replicate his historic achievement.But it has to be put into perspective.If Hill were to honoured in the way some have suggested, then there are others who might deserve equal recognition.ADRIAN ROBSON