Australian swimming coach Alan Thompson embarrassed his young gold-medal swimmers by not recognizing one of the world's biggest superstars.

Kobe Bryant

"I got chatting to this bloke the other night," Thompson told the Sydney Morning Herald. "I was walking back from the meal hall (in the Athletes Village) ... I had to go back because I left my bag there and I met this bloke.

"He said 'How you doing'? "I said 'I'm going alright and how are you'? And he said 'good'.

"We got chatting for a while and I said 'what do you do'? He said 'I play basketball'. I said my name is Alan Thompson and he said 'my name is Kobe Bryant.'

"I had heard of him, but I didn't know what he looked like. I do now."