Despite Tatjana Schoenmaker’s abiding faith, even the South African swimmer finds her achievements this year somewhat surreal after she returned from the Tokyo Olympics with two medals and one world record.
Her bountiful returns came five years after missing out on the Rio Games, having failed to qualify by just one-hundredth of a second, so making success all the sweeter.
Her 200m breaststroke triumph proved to be South Africa’s sole gold medal in Japan, and was her country’s first female medal in an Olympic pool since the great Penny Heyns took bronze in 2000.
“It really still feels unreal,” Schoenmaker, 24, told BBC Sport Africa.
“You dream as a little girl to achieve something that crazy at the Olympics, but I don’t think you believe it could actually happen.
“It just feels like a dream. You work for 16 years to get there and the moment was over so quickly. It does feel a bit weird.”
After five years of relentless training, Schoenmaker’s emotions came out after her 200m victory, screaming when it dawned she had broken the world record with a time of 2:18.95 before breaking into tears.
“When I looked at the board the second time, that’s when I realised - ‘wait, I just broke the world record’,” recalled the BBC African Sports Personality of the Year nominee.
“My first reaction was very dull for someone who’d won and broken the world record, but I definitely made up for it with that second reaction.”
Further tears followed in the medal ceremony.
“My coach actually jokes with me and says I need to get a tissue sponsor,” she said.
“It’s not always nice racing because it hurts and there are nerves. But at least when you’re [on the podium], everything is set aside and it’s just you focusing on singing that song and putting your country’s flag up high. Whenever you sing your national anthem, you have so much pride.”