You don't need to have ever visited Paris to know that one building dominates the skyline like no other.

The Eiffel Tower, a giant, 330-metre-tall, iron monument to France's pre-War industrial might, could tower over Georges-Eugène Haussmann's uniformly beautiful Parisian architecture like a brutal exclamation point of the rise of mechanisation over European romanticism.

Instead, throughout its 135 years, the Eiffel Tower has been a focal point for the entire city — its latticework an art form in its own right, its lights a beacon of the French national mood.

With the Olympics back in town, the Eiffel Tower has regained its spot as the focal point for the entire world.

For athletes everywhere, this is how their Olympic dream has manifested itself.

Through the tedium of all those hours of painstaking training. 

Through the countless small triumphs and momentary doubts.

The Eiffel Tower — eternal symbol of the City of Light — stands as a beacon, guiding the world's athletes into its impressive orbit.

For the last few months there has been another Eiffel Tower hidden in suburban Brisbane, sitting at the end of an open air 50m pool at St Peters Western Swim Club, offering a tangible symbol of what is at stake for a cohort of Australia's best hopes of gold at this year's Games.

Dean Boxall and his collection of athletes — including today's medal winners Ariarne Titmus, Shayna Jack, Mollie O'Callaghan and Elijah Winnington — trained with that model Eiffel Tower's reflection glinting on the surface of the water every day.

There was more than just a teasing symbolism to its presence.

Swimming away from the changing rooms, Olympic champions and hopefuls alike motored towards the replica of Paris's most iconic structure, only to turn and race back away from it, on repeat.

In real terms, the tower never actually got any nearer. 

But for those swimmers, every stroke brought them closer to their goal of reaching Paris.

Paris would always be there, though. The Olympics, however, would not. 

St Peters Western's Eiffel Tower was not just about the symbolism of the impending Games though.

When Boxall placed this version of the Eiffel Tower at the end of his pool, he hid some little secrets within it, things the squad as a whole decided to keep close to their chests.

After the Australian Swimming Trials in Brisbane, Boxall and his squad members told ABC Sport they were happy to share those secrets, secrets that now carry the unmistakable lustre of Olympic gold.

The St Peters Western school of excellence

You don't need to have seen Titmus streak towards defending her Olympic 400m crown to know that St Peters Western Swim Club is home to some of Australia's best swimmers of recent years.

Of the 41 swimmers named to compete for Australia in the pool in Paris, nearly a quarter train under Boxall and his team.

To have 10 swimmers — Titmus, Jaclyn Barclay, Jack Cartwright, Jenna Forrester, Jack, Jamie Perkins, Kai Taylor, O'Callaghan, Winnington and Brianna Throssell — all reach the Games is a staggering achievement for one club.

Multiple world record holder and Olympic champion Titmus already has Olympic gold medals in her locker, as does Throssell.

But they, as well as the other eight, all went to Paris with a genuine chance of achieving their dreams of winning Olympic gold and bringing back a real piece of the Eiffel Tower with them in their luggage in the form of a hexagon of iron embedded into medals they hope to win.

At the last Games in Tokyo, Boxall coached six swimmers where, amidst the ethereal atmosphere of the COVID Games, they combined to bring home 10 medals between them.

Those Tokyo Games may well be remembered for the exuberant reaction Boxall had to watching Titmus slay Katie Ledecky in the 400m freestyle — among other things — but to focus on that singe joyous outpouring of emotion would do the master coach an enormous disservice.

Boxall is a ubiquitous presence at poolside during warm-ups for these major events, a stopwatch in each hand as he surveils his swimmers.

Juggling so many different swimmers with varying requirements is no mean feat, yet Boxall and his team keep all the plates spinning, barking out instructions during the warm up as when required, and silently observing the pool and its maelstrom of activity when not.

With Boxall, there is apparent peace in the chaos and oppressive, nerve-shredding atmosphere on pool deck.

The calmness may surprise some, because Boxall breathes the atmosphere of competition as much as anyone.

"I bleed with my athletes," he said during the Tokyo Games.

"When they leave the pool deck with me … they have to start the recovery process and go home. 

"They switch off. I don't. 

"I go home and dream for them. I go home and try and find a way for them to get better."

The secret postbox inside the Eiffel Tower

It's that attention to detail that marks Boxall and his swimmers out.

During the lead up to this Games, Boxall's plan to place the Eiffel Tower at the end of his pool was not just as a gimmick or even just a visual reminder of what his swimmers were aiming for. 

It played a crucial role.

Within the body of the sculpture, his swimmers could post little notes when they achieved a 9/10 session.

The intensity that Boxall demands means there are no 10/10 sessions, one of Boxall's swimmers told ABC Sport. 

Perfection of that sort simply doesn't exist.

Each session during the week is colour-coded and it is that colour which determines what post-it note is used.