It seems hard to believe there was ever a time when hockey kept football off the back pages and names like Kerly, Dodds and Taylor tripped off the tongue as easily as those of Lineker, Robson and Shilton.

But on a sweltering Saturday in Seoul 20 years ago, Britain’s hockey players swept their way to the summit of world sport by winning Olympic gold, and in doing so captured the hearts of the nation. Millions who had become disillusioned by the English football team’s failure at European Championships in Germany earlier that summer, found inspiration in watching a team of teachers, newsagents and policemen write their own chapter in Olympic history.

The memories of those heady days have passed from bed-time story into the realms of myth and legend. Britain’s current generation of hockey players, initially inspired by that success, have failed to follow in their footsteps, indeed rather than lifting the future generations to a new level, the ’88 gold medal has hung around the necks of Britain’s hockey players like a mill stone.

However, after emerging unscathed from a gruelling qualifying campaign, GB circa 2008 will take their place in Beijing desperate to drag the sport back into the national consciousness.

Following their Olympic gold, the ’88 team returned to Heathrow as unlikely heroes, and Sean Kerly, the team’s brilliant leading goalscorer, and Richard Dodds, who captained the side with an unflagging generalship, were thrust into the spotlight. They were voted Team of the Year at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards and hockey briefly flirted with the back pages.

Now with the 20th anniversary of that golden summer fast approaching, Dodds and Kerly admit the passing of time has allowed them to view their success with a new appreciation.

“I think it was very difficult to put what we did in Seoul into perspective at the time.” Kerly said. “I suppose 20 years on I do appreciate it more, its rather like a chapter of a book, or a part of our lives that you look back on fondly.

“I consider myself to be a normal working man and you just don’t get the opportunity to do that kind of thing very often. I know I was very lucky to have had the opportunity to face the biggest challenge of my life, and to walk away from it with a smile on my face. As a group we could say, ‘We were the best in the world, not for long, but at least we got there’. And that will always be something I will cherish.”

There is a sense, in talking to Kerly, that a glimpse back into history maybe isn’t enough for the scale or the magnitude of the achievement to dawn on him. While not on the scale of the 1966 World Cup victory, or even the glory the 2003 World Cup-winning rugby team achieved, it is one of the few times in any team sport, that Britain was able to genuinely call itself the world’s best.

It was a truly memorable sporting moment that caught the spirit of a nation. It helped that the team beat West Germany in the final, with millions listening to Barry Davies, commentating on the 3-1 victory, utter those now immortal words: “Where, oh, where were the Germans? And frankly, who cares?”.

It may have been a hugely public victory, but for the team it was a very personal triumph. Dodds, now a consultant orthopaedic surgeon, says far from being a flash in the pan, the overriding emotion after the victory was relief not joy, satisfaction not surprise.

“I remember it with great fondness, an amazing time of life,” Dodds said. “But for the squad there was an overwhelming sense that this was our chance. We were a bunch of guys who were pretty confident in our abilities and we knew we had the ability to beat any of the top sides on the right day.