With a second Olympic gold medal safely in the back pocket after triumphing in front of his home fans, few would have begrudged Pete Reed for calling time on his rowing career after London 2012.
But for a man who lists his ergo, his boat and his oars as the three things he would prefer to be stranded on a desert island with, walking away from the sport was never going to be an easy decision, and he instead opted to continue on the road to Rio.
The Royal Navy Officer has not looked back since, going on to add no fewer than three world titles to his collection, with successes in 2013, 2014 and then earlier this summer in the men's eight.
A European bronze and silver medal have also arrived too for good measure, although there have been a few blips along the way – not least a dip in form in late 2013 and early 2014 brought on by an allergy to dogs which was affecting his ability to perform.
With a decision to make between his rowing career and his two pet Chihuahuas, dog-lover Reed went for the former, with the family making the difficult move to re-home their pets.
It’s just one example of the sacrifices he has had to make to keep himself at the very top of his sport.
But Reed, who will be in action at this weekend’s Great Britain rowing trials in Boston, Lincolnshire, knows he will need to dig even deeper if he is to make it a hat-trick of golds in Rio.
“It’s less than ten months away now and we just don’t have time to waste, I need to be better than I ever have and when we’ve been so good in the past, that’s going to be very hard to do,” he said.
“I’ve got a lot of support, from my wife, from Jurgen my coach, the team, my teammates, but also my clubmates at Leander.
“It’s staggering to think we’re so close to Rio now, it’s going to fly by. I won gold medals in Beijing in London, it was a big decision to come back and try and get a third in Rio.
“After I had made that decision, I chucked myself into it whole heartedly and me and my crew have now won three World Championship golds between London and now so we’re in a very good place. “But we can’t take anything for granted. It’ll be tougher, harder, more pressure, but it means everything to me.”
By the time of next year’s Games in Rio Reed will be 35 years old – although for plenty of British rowers, age seems like very much just a number.
Katherine Grainger, 39, has returned to the sport to try and chase a second consecutive Olympic title in Rio while Sir Steve Redgrave won his fifth title at Sydney 2000 aged 38.
And while the prospect of spending more time with family and friends beckons for Reed when he does finally call time on his career, the double Olympic champion remains coy on when that will be.
“I’ve obviously thought about what I’m going to do after Rio but I haven’t made up my mind yet,” he added.
“Everything points towards retiring, no matter what happens in Rio, although of course I’d like to win.
“But I don’t want to rule out carrying on. You’re never too old. If my body is still up for it, and more importantly in my head as well – if I want to carry on and I’m hungry for another four years I’ll see. “It’s four years of training for a chance to race over six minutes, it’s so many hours work. If I want to do it then I will.
“Otherwise I’ve got a wonderful wife at home, I’ve got family and friends I haven’t seen for 12 years and I want to do something else with my life.
“I don’t want time to tick away but at the moment I love rowing, training and racing and I’ve got to concentrate on Rio.”
© Sportsbeat 2015