They've been in, then out, then in again and now one of New Zealand's lightweight rowers has one last shot at Olympic glory.
Matt Dunham and the men's lightweight double boat have been in rocky waters since Tokyo.
"It's definitely been a mental toll," Dunham said.
The future of the lightweight categories has been all over the place in the past three years; it was set to be dropped from the Olympics for Paris which triggered Rowing New Zealand to disband the programme.
"When it was taken out, I was pretty gutted because i feel like I was only just getting my A game, but I was like, 'I'm not ready to leave rowing yet' so I went heavyweight and it was good, but it just wasn't the same," Dunham recalled.
Then the IOC decided to keep the events for 2024 and 1News has learned doubles member and 2017 world championships silver medallist Dunham put a pitch to Rowing NZ pleading the case to bring back an elite programme.
They did and he's now in Europe for this weekend's third World Cup in Lucerne alongside Chris Stockley looking to give Rowing NZ a result.
"It is crazy competitive, we've just seen some guys over there so close to world record everyone's just really stepped up," Dunham said.
"It's like the A final from last year is the B final this year."
But next year will definitely be the last with lightweights replaced at the Los Angeles Olympics by coastal rowing which Dunham tried both nationally and at worlds last year.
Asked if it was a genuine option for him moving forward, Dunham was positive.
"I'll see how long I can go for, but as long as I can wake up and do the hard yards and keep wanting to be the best every day I'd go for it."
One certain push towards an Olympic campaign and then — much like recent times in Matt Dunham's career — who knows?
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