In quarantine after the Tokyo Olympics, Swimming Australia's head coach Rohan Taylor wasn't savouring the stunning success.
He was too busy plotting the path to Paris.
Australia's swim team collected a record nine gold medals, plus three silver and nine bronze, in Tokyo three years ago.
A day later, Taylor was in quarantine in Australia. Time to reflect on, and appreciate, the Tokyo success?
"The short answer would be initially no," Taylor told AAP.
"Because I was basically straight into the next thing, we had a year short (in the next Olympic cycle).
"I'd say I enjoyed it a bit more as I moved away from Tokoy, but in the moment I didn't really have time.
"Coaches, we look at the horizon in front of us ... that's the way we operate."
Gradually, as Taylor laid the plans for the Paris Olympics, the head coach began to better appreciate the Tokyo achievements.
"Within the high-performance unit as a team, as we built this Paris campaign, we reflect along the way 'what have we done, what things have we done well'," he said.
"As we were learning about things we did well in Tokyo, we started to feel: 'Hey, we did some really good things in preparing the team'.
"I'm talking about the team environment. The (individual) coaches are ones that prepare the athletes, we create the performance environment where they can flourish.
"And that is when we started thinking: 'We did some really good things that we need to replicate'."
After the shorter three-year pathway to Paris, Taylor oversees a 44-strong swim team that will arrive in Paris on Tuesday after a three-week camp in Chartres, about 95km from the French capital.
"We have got a strong team that has a lot of experience and then some great young talent coming through," Taylor said.
"It's just a good mix.
"The Olympics is a racing meet, it's about who gets their hand on the wall first.
"The last three years we have proven, and the expectations on individuals are earnt, because the team has been able to get up on the international stage and compete really well.
"And that's what we're looking forward to. We embrace that."
At last year's world championships in Japan, the Australians knocked perennial powerhouse the United States off the top of the medal table, winning 13 golds to seven.
But Australia haven't topped the Americans on an Olympic medal tally since 1956.
"The US talent is so deep, they're in every event, they are always there," Taylor said.
"You have got to compete against them which is exciting and we have a huge respect for them.
"But I am so proud of this team and the individuals, but also of our sport broadly to the Olympics: a small country that continually shows up and competes.
"It's a real testament to everybody ... we love taking on the best of the best and seeing where we land."
The swim team has won 69 of Australia's 167 gold medals at the Olympics - athletics is next-best with 21 - and the Dolphins are charged with setting the tone of the overall campaign when competition at the pool starts on Saturday.
"I wouldn't say it's a responsibility" Taylor said.
"It's more just the pride in being a team that has historically been able to deliver really well at the beginning of an Olympic Games and set a tone.
"Whether it's medals or just being competitive and getting up there with pride, it's more a privilege than a responsibility."
