Beth Shriever never expected to win Britain's first BMX SuperCross Olympic gold in Tokyo - she would have been delighted with any place in the eight-strong final.
She had a complete shock when she won the World Championship, but just a few weeks later she completed a golden double.
This is an athlete who quit the British Cycling programme in order to support her Olympic dream, after UK Sport decided not to invest in female riders, and had to rely on income from a part-time teaching assistant role, as well as crowd-funding, to do so.
She says rejoining the British team was crucial to her performance in 2021.
She wants to take a step towards another historic landmark at the first World Cup of the season, in Glasgow this weekend, after a post-Games break that included film premieres and hanging out with celebrities.
The Olympic and world double is the ultimate because you can only do it once every four years and it is incredible to do it so early in your career, says the young athlete.
I want to keep winning and defending titles, but the World Cup Series is more important now.
After winning world junior silver and gold,Shriever was called a rising star.
The dilemma was created by the decision by multiple BMX world champion Shanaze Reade to switch to track cycling around that time, as UK Sport's rigid funding model did not permit investment in junior prospects alone at that time.
While British Cycling were able to divert some commercial income towards development riders, Shriever chose to forge her own path.
She was 17th on her senior world debut and her World Cup win was encouraging, but it was not spectacular.
It made her realize how hard it is to live a normal life and train.
I took the plunge to come back into the programme because I thought I need to do this if I want to do well in the sport.
After she rejoined the programme, she progressed in leaps and bounds thanks to the revised funding policy of UK Sport.
She feels that access to sport psychology has been particularly important to her success, as it was all made available to her.
Some athletes are very serious and don't want anyone to talk to them at a competition, which is fine, but I'm not like that.
I've done a lot of work with my psychologist about keeping everything normal, so let's have a joke, laugh. I did that at an Olympics by staying on social media and posting between races, and it didn't work out too badly.
Life may have changed since the Games, but Shriever insists she has not.
She says that she was mad with the opportunities like the James Bond premier, the GQ Awards and getting the insane goodies.
I'm still the same person, just doing my job. I know I can't be an athlete forever so I'm digging in and making the most of it.
The track has undergone the biggest transformation after the Olympics.
She says that the main difference is that people will stop and watch to see what I do and what line I am trying on the track.
I used to have to wait, but now people want to know where I am.
In addition to marking the start of her mission to become Britain's first overall World Cup series winner, the event in Glasgow this weekend will also giveShriever the opportunity to perform in front of a home crowd and family for the first time since the coronaviruses outbreak began.
She states that it will be great to finally have her parents at a big race because they couldn't attend the Olympics or the Worlds.
The track is very technical, very unforgiving and it has taken a lot of time for us girls to get used to, but I think it will hold some really good racing for sure!
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