Because while Caroline Buchanan hoped she would be riding for Olympic Games redemption this week, a coronavirus delay has given her an opportunity that was almost lost.

"I was travelling back to my apartment in the United States and nothing felt right," Buchanan said.

"I was about at the end of my 14-day quarantine back home when I found out Tokyo was postponed. I was actually relieved.

"Because I never want to go to an Olympic Games just to wear the Australian tracksuit. I want to be my best, and I wasn't at the time. To have an extra year ... I was more excited than anything."

BMX champion Buchanan has moved back to Canberra during the COVID-19 pandemic and it has proved a blessing in disguise for her decade-long mission to win Olympic gold.

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There was the heartache of being the fastest qualifier for the gold-medal race at the London Games in 2012, then the devastation of crashing out of the 2016 Rio semi-finals.

The decision to move the Tokyo Games to 2021 is the easiest part of Buchanan's journey.

Most of that time has been with doctors and medical staff, recovering from the three sternum operations and the off-road crash that almost killed her.

She was cleared to get back on her bike last year, but Buchanan knew deep down she was nowhere near the level needed to be a champion.

So the Tokyo delay has given her hope that was otherwise fading. She's been in the gym instead of racing to qualify and fine-tuning her technique on the tracks she grew up on to get back to where she knows she can be.

"I've been getting PBs in the gym that I didn't think I'd be getting. I did a 140 kilogram deadlift the other day - even at my peak four years ago I wasn't getting that," Buchanan said.

"It's been a race for me since the last Olympics until now. A race to get my health back. A race to get my life in order. I've restructured everything.

"So many things hadn't gone right since 2016, so the extra year of Olympic qualification was the first sign of things going right. For a lot of athletes it was pretty devastating because you train for four years to be at your peak.

"For me, it was happiness. And seeing these strength numbers now, it gives me a lot of confidence coming back into the season, whenever that will be.

"I had to sit through three years of uncertainty after the accident. And in that three years I became comfortable with being uncomfortable. So when this all happened, I went back to the fundamentals and preparing for everything - good and bad."

The BMX world championships in Texas, which was scheduled for November, has just been cancelled. The next target on Buchanan's radar is the World Cup tour next year, if that is cleared to go ahead.

It will give Buchanan six opportunities to qualify for the Olympics. Before then, she is considering jumping back on her mountain bike for international events. The future of those races is also uncertain as coronavirus concerns continue to cause havoc with international travel and sporting competitions.

One option is to race in Sydney in the coming weeks. Some of Buchanan's friends are competing, sitting in their cars between races to minimise the coronavirus risks.

"I haven't done a local race in 15 years. Part of me wants to sign up ... but it's all unknown," Buchanan said.

Buchanan has been riding at the Melba and Tuggeranong BMX tracks, but she's also rediscovering her love of mountain biking.

BMX gave Buchanan a pathway to the Olympics. She is a three-time BMX world champion, but also a five-time mountain-bike world champion.

The Olympics, though, is driving Buchanan after such painful memories of 2012 and 2016. It's why she's completed a 16-week power and strength program. It's why she keeps training through the Tokyo uncertainty.

The rescheduled Olympics will start with the opening ceremony on July 23 next year, giving Buchanan plenty of time to plot her path to the elusive gold medal even if she's going in as the underdog.

"Now that I've got some extra time that I know I can come in at my best ... I think the hopes of medals are back in line with some of the numbers I'm seeing recently and that's what you aim for," Buchanan said.

"I've been cleared for 12 or 13 months now to get back into competition. I saw a video from a year ago when I was at the AIS struggling with 1 kilogram dumbbells."

"I was two pant-sizes smaller and 8 kilograms lighter. To be back now and pushing numbers I haven't seen in a while, that's refreshing.

"I want to be out in front and out of trouble. That's what's pushing me every day."