Matthew Glaetzer has spent his entire adult life chasing an Olympic cycling medal that has cruelly eluded him by a total of just 2.1 seconds across four events at three Games.
He was fourth in the team sprint in London in 2012, fourth in both the team and individual sprint in Rio in 2016 and fourth again in the team sprint in Tokyo in 2021.
Despite winning National, Oceania, Commonwealth and World Championship gold, the lure of an Olympic medal has motivated him to get out of bed every morning en route to a fourth and final Games in Paris.
"100 per cent it is," he says.
"The Olympics is the only event I haven't medalled in and it would be a dream.
"But with everything I've been through I know the perspective needed in elite sport.
"We're going to put our best foot forward but I've been so hard on myself in previous years having not achieved a medal. This Olympics is definitely going to be my last and I want to enjoy it regardless.
"Win, lose or draw we are there representing our country to the best of our ability and it's an honour to do that."
Perspective is something Matt knows all too well. Whether picking himself up from race day disappointments, losing his former coach Gary West to motor neurone disease in 2017, being diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2019, or tearing his calf in 2020.
"The thyroid cancer was a big one, that was a pretty testing time for me on and off the bike," he says.
"I try to put everything into perspective and it reminds me how fickle life is and how we can get so hung up on the small stuff.
"That was a challenging, and at times very scary period for me but it has given me so much clarity and perspective about what's really important in life."
Matt thought he would retire after the Tokyo Games but three things kept him going - his wife, his teammates and the dream of that elusive medal in Paris.
"Having the disappointment and having to overcome so much, it was a real challenge to get back in the motivated state of mind to want to train," he says.
"My wife Nikki has been a big part of that and sharing what I do with her is bringing more meaning to my sport which has been awesome.
"Part of it is also the teammates I have at the moment. The men's team sprint is super competitive and strong and we can do some great things.
"I knew I had it in me physically. It was just getting that mental side back and we're here now."
Matt walked into the national sprint cycling program as a wide-eyed teenager straight out of high school. At 31, he is the oldest and most experienced member of the Australian track team.
He is also a completely different person mentally and physically. Back then he was 85kg and happy to squat 100kg in the gym. He now tips the scales at over 100kg and squats an eye-watering 200kg in the gym.
"I've been doing this my whole adult life, out of school, straight into the national program, and haven't worked a proper day in my life yet," he says.
"It has its tough moments, but to pull on the green and gold makes everything worthwhile.
"I'm super grateful for the talent I have been given and that I've been able to maximise that and represent my country for over a decade. Hopefully I can do it again and do it well in Paris."
Along the way he has seen so many iterations of the team sprint.
The 2012 version with Shane Perkins and Scott Sunderland that won gold at the world championships.
The 2016 version with Patrick Constable and Nathan Hart that ran fourth in Rio and won bronze in the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
And the current version with Matthew Richardson, Leigh Hoffman and Tom Cornish that was also fourth in Tokyo and became world champion in France in 2023.
"It's hard to compare teams because they all have great qualities," he says.
"The exciting thing about the team right now is the youth, the trajectory and the specific nature of the team sprint is being matched by the athletes we have in the team.
"It's so hard to get three exceptional, world-class sprinters that excel in each of the positions in the team sprint and we haven't quite nailed that combination in the past, but the athletes we have now, we can definitely do that."
Matt is expected to add the keirin to the team sprint for his schedule in Paris and after a pre-Games camp in Portugal, knows what he needs to do to arrive in the best possible shape.
"We've put in the hard work in the cold, wintery sessions at the velodrome in Adelaide and it's a matter of maximising every session that we have so we can trust our preparation that we'll be in a good place come Paris," he says.
Track Cycling will be held from 5-11 August at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome.
Reece Homfray
