Through Covid and persistent injuries, Canberra's Jye Edwards took his first Olympic campaign in his stride.
The 23-year-old runner placed seventh in heat two of the 1500 metre race at Toyko, bringing an end to his breakthrough athletics season in Europe.
The delayed Olympic Games gave Edwards a chance to overcome an Achilles injury that had prevented him from training at his peak.
"For me personally it has just been a dream because I've been able to sort of get myself ready and just have an extra 12 months to prepare and fortunately I was able to sort of time it all well," he said.
Speaking from hotel quarantine in Brisbane, Edwards said competing at the Olympics was quite surreal.
His coach and Professor at University of Canberra's research institute for sport and exercise Dick Telford said watching the athletics was an enjoyable experience, despite the lack of spectators.
"When you look around the stadium and of course they had the seats painted different colours. Unless you look closely you sort of imagine there were people sitting around all over the place," he said.
Edwards is coming to the end of his degree in sport science, also at the University of Canberra, which he studied part time while training.
"Studying sports science, it's obviously quite relevant and a lot of the stuff we do relates to running in some way, which is really handy, whether it be the psychology side or biomechanics or just the physiology," he said.
The qualifications provide a useful backup in case things don't go to plan. But Edwards is ready to take the next leap in his career, which means finding a sponsor to support himself so he can put all his efforts into training as an elite athlete.
"I would say that there's a terrific opportunity for universities to be become stronger sponsors of some of our elite athletes, given the role models that they make for the rest of the community," Professor Telford said.
After making it through 14 days in the same room, Edwards was keen to return to training.
"I'm already just so excited for next year, I know there's so much room for improvement ... Hopefully all goes well and we can make an impact next year."
