Four-time Paralympian Kathryn Ross is not ruling out a fifth go in Paris 2024, but will ponder her future as she rejoins the front-line fight against COVID-19 in Canberra.
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The ACT emergency nurse has returned to the front line and has taken her 14-day quarantine, paired with her extra week off in lockdown, to reflect on her next sporting move.
"I haven't ruled anything out at all," she replied when asked what was next.
"The world's an oyster, right? Lots of things are going to happen, I'm sure. I'm just taking this moment to decide which pathway I want to go down.
"I love the world of sport and I love the world of parasport right across the world, so you never know what doors that might open, but at the moment I've taken some time out to gather my thoughts and see which direction I want to go."
Ross and her PR2 mixed double sculls partner, Simon Albury, were extremely unlucky not to return home with a bronze medal, after recording the third fastest time in Tokyo.
A speedy repechage race was to blame, as the pair were knocked out of the final after crossing the line in third in eight minutes and 12 seconds - the third fastest time across the entire event in Tokyo. However, only the top two teams from each repechage race progressed to the final.
The winner of the other repechage race, Ukraine, rowed five seconds slower than the Australians and qualified for the final.
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Despite the result, the Canberra nurse was proud of their performance and said they left nothing in the tank in Tokyo, given their preparation.
"We gave it everything we had. We had only had two weeks' training before, which is very unusual, due to the lockdowns," Ross said.
"He's from South Australia and that restricted us from being able to train together and have the preparation that's required to be on that top end of the stage. But it didn't stop us from giving it what we could, and we're very much kind of a rookie team together, with Simon having only been rowing for a year.
"So we did prove ourselves to be up there in the top every time we raced. It was just unfortunate we kept getting the toughest draws possible ... I mean, it'd be great if things were taken off times, we would have definitely been in the final then."
Normally crews would train together for at least eight months before a Paralympic Games, but COVID-19 ruined that.
However the fact the Games went ahead was not lost on Ross.
"It was pretty special to see the humanity across the world, that we're all working together on the one thing," she said.
"There was lots of little moments that you sort of sat back, and look at, and go, 'This could have easily not happened'.
"I mean, it was my fourth games. I'm only one of, I think, only five of us in rowing that's been to every year rowing has been in the Paralympics and seeing the changes ... the exposure in Tokyo was, I think, tenfold over Rio [in 2016]."
One of the biggest changes Ross acknowledged, was the coverage of all sports as previously only certain ones had been televised.
"People got to see sports that they wouldn't normally see," she said.
"It gave them exposure that they had never had before. And it's brought to life an awareness to people that there are all these different sports that people with disabilities can play. And I think that's pivotal, at the moment, of where disability is going and showing what we can do.
"I think that having that televised so greatly has opened many doors to lots of people around the world, not just here in Australia."
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