A primary school pep talk from Paralympic legend Michael Milton convinced Cara Grzeskowiak to chase an Olympic Games dream.
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The Canberra rower will make her Australian senior team in Poland this weekend in the next step towards her Olympic goal of competing in Tokyo.
The 23-year-old has been picked in the women's quadruple scull to compete at the at the World Cup regatta on Lake Malta in Poznan.
She will be one of three Canberra competitors at the event, which is an important step before the Olympics next year, with Luke Letcher and Caleb Antill also earning their place.
Grzeskowiak still remembers the day Milton, a six-time Paralympic gold medalist, spoke at her school when she was 11.
"I was in Year 5 and Michael Milton came to our school. I thought it would be so cool if I could go to the Olympics one day," Grzeskowiak said.
"I thought I would go in equestrian. But then sport fell off my radar during high school and college. I went to university and fell into rowing, next thing you know I'm over in Poland and I've got a chance to go to the Olympics.
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"It doesn't really feel real. There are still a lot of boxes to tick just to get there, but the fact it's a possibility is really exciting. To be able to represent your country and be on that start line at an Olympics, that would be mind-blowing."
Grzeskowiak was a junior Australian star and won the Australian under-21s single scull title five years ago. But a broken rib halted her rise and forced her to readjust her training regimen to get back to her peak.
"The broken rib haunted me for two years and I actually broke it twice. I was just over-training . . . I didn't have the experience or knowledge to know-how to moderate my load." Grzeskowiak said.
"Now I realise you have to train hard and smart. It was hard missing out on teams and the medical issues that go with it. Everyone has a setback or injury, it's just about how you overcome it and step forward.
"I took a season off before I fully got back into it and I'm happy with how it's gone."
This season will be crucial to her hopes of qualifying for the Olympics. The quadruple sculls team needs good results at two World Cup events before the world championships in Austria.
If they secure a top-eight spot at the world championships, they book the boat's ticket to Tokyo.
Letcher is in the doubles sculls, Antill is in the quadruple sculls and former Canberra rower Angus Moore is in the men's eight.