KEY POINTS:
Rob Waddell was a colossus who rowed, Mark Todd the colossus who rode; now two wonders of the sporting world are to tower over another Olympic Games.
Dual Olympic three-day event champion Todd, 52, came out of retirement in January, found himself a new horse and qualified for his sixth Olympics.
Waddell, 33, who quit rowing after winning single sculls gold at Sydney in 2000, is also on the comeback trail, after years of America's Cup yachting and a flirtation with rugby.
But while it will be just like the good old days for the greying Todd, Waddell has had to reinvent himself.
Beijing will see Waddell in the double sculls with Nathan Cohen, after his path to single sculls was cut off by three-times world champion Mahe Drysdale and a heart-condition.
The rowing world was engrossed as Waddell took on Drysdale head-to-head for a place in the single sculls, with a dramatic three-race shoot out needed to spilt them.
Drysdale triumphed in race three, when Waddell was flattened by a heart ailment that he thought he had beaten years earlier.
Within three months of Waddell reluctantly accepting the double sculls was his lot, he and Cohen had won twice in Europe.
Already a New Zealand Olympic giant, Waddell will seal international greatness should his unlikely comeback end with him standing atop the dais at Shunyi.
Todd was an international superstar before Beijing, being voted Rider of the 20th Century by the International Equestrian Federation.
After golds in Los Angeles in 1984 and Seoul four years later, and bronze medals at Seoul and Sydney, Todd has nothing to prove in Hong Kong, where the equestrian events are to be held.
But his return for a sixth Olympics, after eight years out to pasture, will offer the five-strong New Zealand squad the chance of a medal, after returning from Athens empty-handed.
"In October, we had some friends staying and over a few too many glasses of wine I said something like `find me a horse for the next Olympics'," Todd said.
"I thought I was joking at the time and then around Christmas time I got a call saying `Was I serious about it?' because there was this horse that was available to be bought that had qualified for the Games."
After joining forces with Gandalf, Todd passed his first qualifying test in February and earned the right to ride at the Games at a competition in France in May.
His Phoenix-like rise has taken some of the limelight from teammate Andrew Nicholson, who is also at his sixth Olympics - a record for a New Zealander.
One step down from Todd and Nicholson stands yachtie Barbara Kendall who has won a gold, a silver and a bronze in five Games since 1992.
Second at the RSX windsurfing championships in January, at 40 Kendall proved she still has what it takes to win at the highest level.
At 182, New Zealand is sending its biggest team to an Olympic Games - 150 went to Sydney, 148 to Athens.
And there is plenty of quality.
Shot putter Valerie Vili, Drysdale, BMX rider Sarah Walker and triathletes Kris Gemmell, Bevan Docherty and Sam Warrinder all rate as medal prospects, as do several yachties.
Chef de mission Dave Currie and Sparc boss Peter Miskimmin - himself an Olympian - are wary of predicting a medal target.
Predictions have a way of backfiring.
"Athletes who are in the top three in the world in an Olympic year are clearly in the frame for a medal finish," Currie said.
"But that's just it - they're in the frame. They've done the hard work...but on the day it's in the hands of the sporting gods."
- NZPA
