The pain of sitting on the couch while someone else claimed his world title has ignited the fire inside James Magnussen as he targets Olympic Games gold in Rio.
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But the Australian Olympic swimming team is set to bypass Canberra in its build-up for Rio, with Magnussen targeting potential preparations in Japan or the United States for his redemption mission.
Magnussen, nicknamed The Missile, is confident his body is ready to dive back into full-time training after being out with shoulder and back injuries for nine of the past 18 months.
His time on the sidelines was made even more painful when he watched Chinese swimmer Ning Zetao claim his world championship 100 metre freestyle title last year.
However, the 24-year-old is using that as extra motivation on his quest to turn Olympic silver into gold when he arrives in Rio.
"I'd like to think that time away has helped. It puts everything in perspective," Magnussen said.
"It can be draining mentally and physically in the training and competing grind, so it's nice ot have a break to freshen up.
"But it was pretty tough to sit on the couch and watch your world title slip away without being able to defend it. So that has definitely got the fire burning in the belly and more motivated for this year... I've spent four years working towards going one better than what I did [at the London Olympics in 2012], so that's the ultimate goal."
Magnussen was in Canberra on Sunday to present 1500 children with medals at the annual TRYathlon at the AIS.
ACT Brumbies skipper Stephen Moore, prop Allan Alaalatoa and rookie Nick Jooste were there as well alongside mountain bike duo Rebecca Henderson and Dan McConnell and triathlete Michelle Wu.
The event is part of a national series involving 18,000 competitors, and the Canberra leg sold out for the second year in a row with children aged 7-15 competing on a course around the institute to introduce them to the sport.
Magnussen's focus though, is on the pool as he looks to test out his surgically repaired shoulder after losing significant strength last year.
"I'm feeling really good now, I've got through a lot of great training with a little bit of racing. But I've been more focused on training so hopefully that pays off," Magnussen said.
The Australian team regularly uses the capital as a base for temporary training camps in the lead-up to major competitions.
It was at the AIS last year for a unique training block designed to prepare athletes to swim at different times of the day, with midnight sessions and different sleep patterns put in place.
However, with the majority of Australia's swimmers based in Queensland, the Canberra pool and AIS science and recovery centres appear unlikely to be used.
Magnussen will consider competing in Asia or the United States after the Australian Olympic trials.
He has been in the Australian squad since he was 18, and will weigh up his future after Rio with one eye on the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in 2018 and the 2020 Olympics a distant thought.
"I have to see how the body holds up. I think mentally I could make it to [2020], but I've obviously started to have a few injuries so it will depend on that," Magnussen said.
"Being able to compete at the Commonwealth Games in Australia would be pretty cool. It's pretty morbid to be thinking I've only got 'X' amount of years left in the sport, so you break it down.
"Last time at the Olympics it got pretty intense. I was one of the only gold medal hopes, so the pressure was there. But this time we've got world champions. There's always going to be expectation, but this year is going to be different."
