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Matildas striker Michelle Heyman's footballing story spans that of the modern women's game in Australia.
She was there during the first W-League domestic season in 2009.
Eight years after her first Olympics in Rio, the 36-year-old will play for Australia at the 2024 Paris games.
As women's football has grown in popularity, so has she.
Where Heyman's career has shined, so too has the national side.
Now in the twilight of her playing career, the striker and her beloved 'Tillies are shining the brightest of all.
On the eve of the Olympic campaign, Heyman looks back at four key moments from her journey to Paris.
Julie Dolan Medal, 2009
"I remember this day like it was yesterday," Heyman recalled.
"I didn't know that, you know, I was ever going to be that player to be, you know, special in Australia."
Heyman grew up playing football in the Illawarra region of NSW where her talent was clear from an early age, even though she had to play on a boy's team.
She rose through the playing ranks and was the right age level, and crucially, the right talent level to be signed up by Sydney FC for the inaugural season of the W-League in 2008.
After minimal game time in Sydney, Heyman moved north to the Central Coast Mariners for the second W-League season.
"That year was pure happiness and pure freedom," said Heyman.
"To just hang out with the people that I cared about and to play the game that I love."
Heyman finished the season as the league's top scorer and won the the Julie Dolan Medal for the league's best player.
It would change the course of her career, even if she had no idea the direction it was headed.
"I remember after getting that award, walking away and someone being like, 'oh, the head coach of the Matildas wants to talk with you'," she recalled.
"I just remember being like, who are the Matildas? Because I didn't know who they were.
"A couple of weeks [later] I was in an Australian camp and my life changed forever from that day."
W-League winner with Canberra United, 2011/12
Just a few weeks before the start of the 2011/12 W-League season, the brittle financial foundations of the women's game left Heyman without a club.
"We got a call saying that the club's folded, I just remember being like, 'what do you mean? Now who do I play for?'," she recalled.
Luckily then CEO of Capital Football, Heather Reid, quickly snapped up the young striker.
"Her first game against Perth, she scored a hat-trick," Ms Reid said.
"She's just an exquisite goal scorer, a beautifully balanced athlete with great flair in front of goal."
Canberra United went on to win the W-League title with Heyman scoring the winning goals in the grand final.
"It's such a beautiful moment to remember," Heyman said.
"To get that trophy and celebrate with the girls it was a very special day and one that continues to help motivate me."
That winning season was the first of two W-League titles that Heyman would win with the club, the second coming in 2014.
It was also the start of a friendship between Heyman and Ms Reid.
"I think she is the one woman in that era of football who has changed the game for women the most," Heyman said.
"Without her, I wouldn't be here."
"She radiates just pure joy," Ms Reid said of Heyman.
"She walks into a room and she lightens up the room with her smile."
Women's World Cup, Canada, 2015
By 2014 Heyman's success on the pitch was in lockstep with that of the national side.
The Matildas finished runners up in the 2014 Women's Asian Cup.
A year later, Heyman would play on the biggest stage of all at the Women's World Cup in Canada.
Their first fixture was against the USA, then the number one team in the world.
"They had Abby Wambach who is one of my idols," Heyman said.
"To be then standing on the same field with her was something that really woke me up.
"I was like, 'wow, you're doing it Michelle, here you are at a World Cup playing for your country against the USA'."
The massive popularity of the sport in North America was in stark contrast to Australia.
"That was my first time ever playing for my country in pretty much a packed stadium," Heyman remembered.
"We saw the amount of support that they got and we were like, 'this is what we deserve, what we would like during the rest of our career'."
Australia made the quarter finals of that tournament, but the financial rewards were far behind the sporting achievements.
"We were lucky enough to get the bonus of $750," said Heyman.
"You hope this [World Cup] is a life-changing experience and that you're financially looked after, but during that time, it just wasn't there.
"The sponsorships weren't there. Nothing was there to help support us."
The comeback, Olympic qualifier, Uzbekistan, 2023
By 2019 Heyman was in the prime of her career, which is why it stunned the footballing community when she announced her retirement
Nursing a series of debilitating physical injuries, Heyman was also suffering from anxiety and panic attacks.
Heyman spent a year away from football enjoying the freedom from the grind of being a professional athlete.
"I cried when she announced her retirement," said Ms Reid.
"But I also cried when she was brought back into the team this year."
Heyman would return to the Matildas via Canberra United, signing with them out of retirement in 2020.
The striker won the Julie Dolan Medal again in 2021, more than a decade after she first won the award.
She's since become the first player in the women's competition to reach 100 goals.
Only Sam Kerr could keep Heyman out of the squad for the zenith of women's football in Australia — the 2023 Women's World Cup.
But an injury to Kerr later that year, meant Heyman received a call up for the Olympic qualifiers against Uzbekistan.
It had been six years since she last played for the Matildas and the new-found status of the much-loved team was not lost on the striker.
"We're finally there," Heyman said.
"The Matildas are selling out packed stadiums every single game on home soil.
"It's a completely different ball game, the Matildas are the number one brand within Australia.
"We're taking over the world. Countries love us. Everyone loves the Matildas brand. And it's so beautiful to see."
Ms Reid, herself a pioneer of the women's game in Australia and around the world, says all Matildas alumni have contributed to the success of the team.
"I get goosebumps thinking about the journey that we've been through over the last, you know, 30, 40 years in particular," she said.
"I get even more emotional when I think about the wonderful stories of people like Michelle Heyman."
In her first game back with Australia, Michelle Heyman did what she's built a career out of — scoring goals.
"I think I've watched this [goal] like a thousand times … I love it. Pure happiness," she said.
"It reminds me of being a 10-year-old again.
"It was just like, 'let's score goals. Let's hang out with the people that I care about and play the game that I love'."