When Kiwi Paralympian Anna Taylor declares she's happy to be here, she probably doesn't just mean Paris.
Like so many at this event, Taylor, 33, has had to overcome extreme challenges to take their places on the startline. Like so many others, hers have been life threatening.
After finishing fifth in the same event at Tokyo 2020, the cyclist has become New Zealand's first medallist at these Games, capturing silver in the C4 3000m individual pursuit at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome.
"Overwhelming," she reflected. "Honestly, I'm just grateful to be here healthy and race how I know I am capable of."
The Kiwi finished second in the individual pursuit at the velodrome. (Source: TVNZ)
After qualifying second fastest, she had little answer to flying Aussie world recordholder and defending champion Emily Petricola, who ran her down shortly before the finish in the head-to-head rideoff for gold.
That performance should not diminish Taylor's achievement, which has seen her survive thyroid cancer, and suffer a severe disc prolapse in her back that required emergency surgery and left her weak in the left leg, with minor weakness in her right.
Taylor was able-bodied rower in her first year on scholarship at Oregon State University, when she was diagnosed with cancer. She underwent surgery to remove her thyroid in April 2011, before undergoing radioactive iodine treatment and rejoining her college team.
Her sporting ambitions took another detour in 2016, when she suffered acute cauda equina syndrome, which compressed her spinal cord. Three years later, she made her international para cycling world championships debut.
"To be honest, with all the health stuff I've had to deal with, it's quite scary to hope for a good future," she told TVNZ. "You don't know what kind of life you're going to have.
"It's something I don't want to shy away from, going into hard things... I'm grateful my family are up there supporting me and here for the journey. It's something good to celebrate."
Taylor credits her medical team for getting her this far and improving on her performance at Tokyo three years ago.
"There have been so many barriers and obstacles I've had to come over, just in terms of health," she said. "It's been one thing after the other and it's been really frustrating.
"The past five months I've been healthy, with really good support getting my health back on track, and it shows in the results."
Parents Raewyn and Kevin were on hand to help celebrate her success at Paris.
"We're just so grateful to so many people," said mother Raewyn. "It's been a long, long journey of multiple doctors and operations and and surgeries, and we're really grateful to see the climax of this."
Said dad Kevin: "Having raised her, I knew she would never give up — it's not in her nature — but coming to the Paralympics and medalling is amazing.
"Good reward for all her efforts and the hard work she's put in."
Taylor won the world omnium crown at Glasgow last year and finished third at Rio earlier this year, but that event is not on the Paralympics programme.
Instead, she will contest the individual time trial on the road, an event she did not complete at Tokyo.
Watch the Paralympics live on TVNZ+ and TVNZ1 from August 29-September 9.
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