Lani Pallister went through heart surgery and overcame an eating disorder just to make Australia's swim team for the Paris Olympics.
Then she contracted COVID-19 in the French capital.
Pallister's immediate thoughts were of her debut Olympics turning to disaster.
The 22-year-old was forced to withdraw from her 1500m freestyle event.
And she feared missing out on Australia's 4x200m freestyle relay.
Nothing is certain in sport.
But with Australia holding the 4x200m relay world record, and the team boasting Mollie O'Callaghan and Ariarne Titmus - one-two placegetters in the individual 200m free in Paris - the gold was theirs to lose.
Two days ago, Pallister thought she'd lost hers.
"When I got COVID, I honestly thought I'd be out of that relay completely," Pallister.
"I didn't know if I would even have the opportunity to swim the heat, let alone stand on the podium with the girls."
Pallister was put on anti-viral medication and ordered to isolate from the Dolphins pod.
But on Thursday night she was atop the podium with O'Callaghan, Titmus and Brianna Throssell after they won gold in the relay.
"Physically, I'm not that bad," Pallister said.
"My symptoms were very, very mild and the AOC (Australian Olympic Committee) have been incredible in the medications they've been able to give us.
"Some COVID anti-viral - all checked, nothing wrong with it - very, very grateful for them.
"The fact that I got on top of it so quickly definitely helped my case.
"I'm pretty in tune to when there's something going on so I wasn't really scared to have to do a COVID test.
"But obviously it was very disappointing pulling out of the 1500."
The setback followed a rugged road to Paris for Pallister, the daughter of Janelle, nee Elford, who swam for Australia at the 1998 Seoul Olympics.
Janelle placed fifth in the 400m freestyle in Seoul.
Without two East Germans swimming during that country's drug-tainted era and finishing second and third, Janelle would be an Olympic medallist.
In 2019, Lani was a rising star of Australian swimming, collecting the award for best female swimmer at the world junior championships.
But she missed selection for the Toyko Olympics when mysteriously underperforming at Australia's selection trials.
The mystery was solved when she was diagnosed with glandular fever.
In 2021, Pallister underwent surgery for supraventricular tachycardia, which can cause an irregular heartbeat.
When recovering, she developed an eating disorder, admitting she craved being thin rather than fit.
