The heart soared.
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And then the heart sank.
If you wanted live updates from lockdown at the sports editor's desk in Shellharbour, those eight words sum it up well enough.
Wollongong's Emma McKeon is now an Olympics champion in her own right.
A 24-carat gold has dangled in front of her since missing out on London nine years ago but McKeon reached out and grabbed it with both hands.
"I'm so proud of you," friend and rival Cate Campbell, who finished with bronze, said with a hug over the lane rope moments after touching the wall.
Once the most shy, introverted person this column has ever interviewed, was now the 100m freestyle beast with the killer instinct when it mattered.
Whatever McKeon does for the rest of her swimming career, she has cemented a legacy as an Australian great in the pool - a defining moment to add to her collection of medals. Then an hour later, after the greatest individual moment in Illawarra sporting history, a region and nation held its collective breath as Helensburgh's Saya Sakakibara lay prone on the ground at the Tokyo BMX track.
She had been one turn and several jumps away from punching her ticket to an Olympics final of her own and potentially another Australian gold medal.
Out in front in the third run of the semi-final, Sakakibara was clipped by American Alise Willoughby and it was game over.
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But not just the end of her Olympics campaign, now there were genuine fears for her wellbeing, as she was assessed and carried on a stretcher from the track.
Her brother Kai was watching on with family in Tokyo, still recovering from major brain and physical injuries he suffered at a World Cup event in Bathurst last year.
A reminder, as in life, sport can fulfill all your dreams and be so damned cruel.
Thankfully Saya was back on her feet shortly after, tearfully telling Australian Olympics broadcaster Seven Network: "I feel like I let everyone down, especially my brother."
No doubt Kai had provided the inspiration for her pursuit of a gold medal, but she'll have time to reflect that she's only 21.
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Fellow Australian Lauren Reynolds is 30 and finished fifth in the final, her time may yet come. If Sakakibara needs any proof of that she only needs to look at David Smith, who was inconsolable after missing out on a medal while red-hot favourite as part of the K4 1000m team in Beijing.
Smith clutched gold tightly after taking out the same event in London in 2012.
She need only look at McKeon, a versatile and dedicated talent unable to match the elites in Rio.
Now McKeon is on top of the world.
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