With less than two months left until the start of the Beijing Olympics it feels like a pretty good time to start reminiscing, doesn't it?

It makes me feel fairly old to think about the first Olympics I really sat down and paid attention to.

It was the year Cyclone Bola destroyed the East Coast of the North Island. I remember it well - I got a few days off school and when you're 12 and at intermediate that means a heck of a lot.

It was also the year two Kiwi swimmers became household names when they collected bronze medals.

Of course, I'm talking about the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

And the swimmers I refer to were none other than Anthony Mosse and Paul Kingsman.

As a swimmer I paid a lot of attention to the action in the pool although I had to video tape it because staying up that late wasn't something my folks were too keen on.

Both Mosse and Kingsman grabbed their medals from lane one. In swimming terms this means they'd only just made the final but in sporting terms it obviously meant they were in with a shot.

Mosse lined up against one of the true greats of swimming back in the day - a West German star called Michael Gross in the 200m butterfly.

Gross' nickname was The Albatross and he certainly lived up to that. Standing at six foot seven inches and with a wing span of seven and a half feet he was a hard act to follow.

But that didn't stop Mosse from giving him a pretty good run for his money.

In the build-up to the Games Mosse's father passed away and he parted ways with his swim coach – two events that could, quite reasonably, have caused him to slip off the pace.

In the final Gross set a blistering early pace but he tied up in the last 25 metres and the field caught up. But no-one was really watching the flying Kiwi charging up the outside lane.

He grabbed the bronze and cemented his name in Kiwi hearts.

Kingsman's road to the Olympic final was less dramatic but equally as impressive.

At 21-years-old he was ranked 14th in the world leading in to the Games and considered a long shot to make the 200m backstroke final.

Obviously no one told him that.

Kingsman stormed into the final in lane one.

But he didn't leave his best in the heats and certainly didn't pay any attention to the star studded field he was lining up against.

While Mosse had Gross to contend with Kingsman had Russian giant Igor Polianski to battle.

Polianski was the undisputed heavyweight champion of the backstroke world at the time and his legend lives on in swimming circles now.

The Russian was too quick to catch, as was East Germany's Frank Baltrusch but Kingsman managed to hold off former world record holder Sergei Zabolotnov in a very close finish.

Despite the scoreboard showing Kingsman had touched in third the presenters still tried to award Zabolotnov the bronze medal at the presentation.

In an extremely embarrassing gaffe the announcer at the medal presentation read out Zabolotonov's name leaving Kingsman standing next to the dais.

The mistake was quickly corrected and the Kiwi took his spot to mark an incredible time in New Zealand swimming history.

Who would have thought eight years later a kid called Danyon Loader would storm the world pool?

But more about that next time.

Let me know about your Olympic memories as well.