BBC SPORT | BBC TEAM | Rider's legends: Sean Kerly

BBC Olympics presenter Steve Rider highlights some of the great Olympians from the pages of history.

There is nothing like Olympic success to drive a 'backwater' sport into the depth of a nation's conscience.

In 1988 at the Games in Seoul, the sport was hockey and the success was Britain's.

Even for the uninitiated the concept of 11 men trying to get a ball into the back of the net was hardly alien and Britain's march to the gold medal captivated a home audience of millions who earlier that year had seen England's soccer team flop at the European Championships in Germany.

From a glorious team effort emerged hockey's first superstar as top scorer Sean Kerly was given media attention normally reserved for the likes of Gary Lineker at that time.

Sean Kerly: Leaping into the history books
Kerly had been with the British team that won bronze four years earlier in Los Angeles and was in the England side which lost the 1986 World Cup final to Australia.

So Britain were far from outsiders in 1988 and qualified from the group stages in second place after losing to a late penalty against Germany to set themselves up for a semi-final against favourites Australia.

Chemistry

"It's difficult to put a finger on exactly why we came good as a nation at that particular time," said Kerly.

"I suppose most of us had been together for four years, as the majority of the team were in the England side, and gradually improved as a unit. We had a good management team, we were the right age and the chemistry throughout the team was right.

Sean Kerly
Kerly: Still working in hockey
"We just got better and better and more stubborn. We were a hard team to beat."

In the semi-final against Australia, Great Britain showed all those qualities. Leading 2-0 thanks to two Kerly strikes, Australia pulled the game level. But the British team gave it one last go and in Boy's Own fashion won the game as Kerly completed his hat-trick late in the match.

And so to the final and a match for fans to savour - GB v West Germany - and for once the glory did not go to the Germans as Imran Sherwani (2) and Kerly put the Brits 3-0 up on the way to a 3-1 victory.

Focus

Kerly said such had been the team's focus they had been unaware of the euphoria back home but took quiet satisfaction from their glory.

Steve Batchelor leads the final celebrations
"It was a massive relief that we had taken the opportunity to win gold," said Kerly.

"You don't to get too many chances to win an Olympic gold and I was glad we had taken the opportunity and not let history pass us by.

"The main feeling for me was that we had done it. It was only much later that it sank in and I started to enjoy it. I still get recognised occasionally and I feel lucky that even now people still want to talk about it and in such a postitive way."

I was glad we had taken the opportunity and not let history pass us by

Sean Kerly

Hockey's moment in the sun was brief however and the sport was never able to sustain its media profile after the gold medal performance.

These days Kerly works as a marketing manager for an independent school in Canterbury where he also coaches the city's National Hockey League team but is also working hard to revive TV interest in a sport played by around three million people

"Many players are in their mid-20s who took it up on the back of our success. Unfortunatey there was never the infrastructure in place to keep the sport in the media eye."




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