Four Olympics of faith, persistence and simple decency have paid off for beloved Australian track cyclist Matt Glaetzer.
Backing up from his breakthrough bronze medal in the team sprint at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome outside Paris, Glaetzer had things go his way at last when he avoided a three-rider pileup in the keirin final.
That gave him bronze behind compatriot Matt Richardson, who won silver, and Dutch master Harrie Lavreysen.
It is Glaetzer's first individual Olympic medal.
Glaetzer had endured a succession of fourth places at his previous three Games and the traumas around Tokyo, when he overcame thyroid cancer and a badly blown calf to compete.
HIs tactics in the keirin final at the last Olympics, when he let winner Jason Kenny gain too much of a lead, also attracted plenty of criticism.
But on Saturday, Australian chef de mission and former cycling teammate Anna Meares had hailed Glaetzer's team sprint bronze as one of her Paris Olympics highlights.
"I've had a lot of bad luck in my career and jeez, it's good to finish on some good luck," he said after the keirin final.
"I'm just grateful I stayed upright on that final corner. They were bumping me and then I saw them all absolutely hit the deck.
"All of a sudden I saw I was crossing the line for bronze and I couldn't believe it. I felt like a bit of a Steve Bradbury, but oh gosh, it's amazing."
AusCycling performance boss Jesse Korf became emotional as he spoke about Glaetzer, noting his role as the captain of the Adelaide-based track program.
Korf also mentioned the Tokyo Games and Glaetzer's ride in the keirin final.
"He got a lot of public - let's just say - 'discourse' around it. That wasn't really conducive and probably was unfair, because the general public didn't know the context,:" Korf said.
For his part, Glaetzer was determined to have a better ride in this Olympic keirin final than he had produced in the previous one.
"I definitely put myself in the race in the final and I wanted to make up for the last final. I feel like I did," he said.
"The race was okay, but the result was phenomenal."
Knowing he was not the race favourite, Glaetzer was the first to hit out and put himself in a good position, with fate then smiling on him when he avoided the crash.
Glaetzer is well-known as a man of great faith and it was put to him that finally, God has been on his side at an Olympics.
"God's always looking out for me, whether the result falls my way or not. At the end of that race, I was 'thank you Lord, for protecting me in that one' - I'm very blessed," he said.
Glaetzer will keep competing, but at 31 this is his last Olympics.
