As Mariafe Artacho del Solar prepares to begin competition at her third Olympics, she hopes to recycle the on-court energy alongside beach volleyball partner Taliqua Clancy from their silver-medal performance in Tokyo -- but go one better in front of a packed stadium sitting beneath France's most iconic landmark.
Artacho del Solar and Clancy will begin their campaign early Sunday morning [AEST] on Centre Court just a stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower. That's a far cry from the spectator-less COVID-safe arenas from Tokyo and, while it is somewhat "treasonous" to say so, it is maybe even a step up on Bondi Beach from Sydney 2000, too.
But the breakthrough success of Australia's Kerri Pottharst and Natalie Cook on that famous stretch of Australian sand sits at the heart of Artacho del Solar's journey despite the fact she was just seven years of age -- and on the opposite side of the globe -- at the time.
"My auntie was invited to an event the day after the girls won gold in Sydney 2000 and they had these postcards which were them holding their medals on the podium and smiling, just the incredible moment after they won," Artacho del Solar told ESPN. "And so my sister was the one who played at the time. My auntie got Nat and Kerry just to give a little message, and it said "always follow your dreams and go for gold".
"And so my auntie was taking this postcard all the way to Peru to give it to my sister, and I stole the postcard and was like 'I want to see it, I want to see it'. I didn't speak English at the time so I didn't know what it said, but the picture just resonated with me at the time, that I really want to do that, I really want that feeling of going to the Olympics and to win a medal and to be on top of the podium. And I guess that's when my Olympic spark ignited, that moment, which was pretty cool.
"And then mum and I moved to Australia in 2004 when I was 11, and I actually got to meet Kerry down at Manly Beach, which is where I started playing beach volleyball. And then eventually I met Nat and told her the story; it's just crazy how the world works."
If this Australian pairing are going to match the efforts of Pottharst and Cook, and improve upon their own silver from Tokyo, then they must produce an incredible performance in Paris.
For not only has the standard "gone through the roof" since 2021, Artacho del Solar said, but the duo is also battling a lack of longer-term preparation after a succession of injuries sidelined Clancy for much of the international season.
"You train and you can practise all these things, but that mental match fitness that you don't get during training, you can't really practise that," Artacho del Solar said.
"The pressure situations, the competition environment, the whistle, the ref, the opposition, you try and copy these things at training but it's not really the same; so we try and do our best and we try and train with guys to challenge us, but it's not quite always the same so when you go to that first game in competition it's always like 'wow, it's been a while'.
"But we've been playing the sport for a while now, we're experienced, and what we're trying to do is just regain that trust and belief no matter how long we've had off."
Fortunately for Artacho del Solar and Clancy, they know each other inside out.
"It's really like a marriage, you're in each other's pocket all the time," the soon-to-be-three-time Olympian told ESPN. "You train together, you travel together, but you make these wonderful memories There are highs and lows definitely as there is with every team, but at the end of the day you're in this together for one reason to win and represent your country at the highest level.
"We're both old enough and we respect each other, so if we need our own space we do that. We both have our own routines, but as long as we know that we're doing it for the benefit of the team then we know we have the same goal. It's a special journey."
Tokyo, despite the restrictions brought about by COVID, also proved a special journey. If anything, it allowed the Aussies to focus squarely on the task at hand, and, while they were beaten in straight sets in the final, a silver medal was just reward for two weeks of stellar work.
"Tokyo was an interesting experience. Being in Australia, we weren't allowed to travel anywhere. We had three tournaments in April [2021] in Mexico and that was pretty much it," Artacho del Solar said of their build-up three years ago.
"While everyone else was still competing and travelling, we weren't able to have that pre-Olympic prep, but I think the belief we had of the potential of getting a medal was so strong that it didn't matter how much prep we missed out before Tokyo; we just had such a strong belief that we were going to play in that final, and that was so important.
"And because beach volleyball goes for virtually the whole Olympics, we just broke it down to one game at a time, treated each game into its own little tournament, and then reset. And we had some really strong processes set in and we obviously had the goal to win; results and expectations you can't really control, but you can control the processes and what you do to get there.
"So we had a really strong plan, we stuck at it, and it was unreal, I still remember it like it was yesterday, and we're aiming to do it again but go one better."
Given their injury-marred build-up, the improved standard of competition, and the fact they will also be dealing with increased expectation in Paris, Artacho del Solar and Clancy face an almighty challenge if they are to progress deep into the field, let alone take gold in Paris.
Artacho del Solar has little doubt they can do it, however; and even if things don't pan out in their favour, the spirit of that little girl whose passion was ignited back in Peru will still be burning as fiercely as ever.
"It's such an honour, I don't take it for granted any time I get to put on the green and gold," she told ESPN. "It's one of my favourite things to represent our country, especially at the Olympics, it's going to be so special and I'm so excited to represent Australia at my third Olympics -- it's a dream come true.
"I've always said I want to finish in Brisbane [2032] and I've always said I want to make it to five Olympics, so never say never. It's definitely my grand goal, but we'll see what life has in store."
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