Caroline Buchanan could so easily have walked away.
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Nobody could have questioned it had she decided her time was up, even if it meant brushing the chance for Olympic Games redemption, after a life-threatening crash.
But instead Buchanan wakes up on Wednesday waiting for a call to see if she will be on a plane to Tokyo for her third Olympic appearance.
The Australian Olympic team's BMX riders will be announced on Wednesday with Buchanan a contender to earn a place on the squad.
The 30-year-old's inclusion would complete another chapter in her remarkable comeback story, though if Australian fans have it their way, there will still be another chapter to be written in this stirring fairytale.
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Buchanan went into London as the No.1 women's rider. Four years later she entered Rio de Janeiro as No.2, yet both times she walked away empty-handed.
Following that the eight-time world champion was involved in an off-road buggy crash which left her with a broken nose and sternum, and two collapsed lungs. So serious was the incident that it could have killed her.
Buchanan spent four days in intensive care before beginning to long road to rehabilitation. Yet still she managed to frame it as a positive.
The Canberra star rebuilt herself, instilling a belief she can overcome any adversity. It remarkably gave her the confidence to push the boundaries when she was cleared to ride again.
That alone suggests her four-year Olympic cycle was more torrid than the average athlete. So how did she respond when the coronavirus pandemic added another year to the journey?
Gleefully, in a manner only Buchanan can.
Because another year until the Olympics meant her hopes of being at the level required to win gold were reignited. She fine-tuned her technique on the tracks she grew up on on the outskirts of Canberra, all with the desire of reaching her peak for one last dance.
She is chasing the dream without the backing of an elite sporting body, determined to shine against all odds in one of sport's most amazing comeback stories.
"The goal is to obviously go to Tokyo," Buchanan said in February.
"I've sort of always planned for BMX racing for this to be my last Olympic Games and then to continue with mountain biking and all my other goals within cycling beyond this year.
"Postponing [the Olympics] a year has been really great for me to continue with my training base and build my strength-and-conditioning numbers to where they need to be.
"Within the last 12 months I've been hitting PBs in the gym, back up to 20 watts per kilo.
"I know my sternum's strong. I've been deadlifting 140kg. No bolts have popped out or no plates have snapped.
"I've given it a good test - something would've gone ding by now."
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