Silver Ferns defender Katrina Rore hopes New Zealand's triumph at the Netball World Cup over Australia inspires people to never give up chasing their goals.
Since breaking into tears while being interviewed at the end of the Silver Ferns' loss to England at last year's Commonwealth Games, Rore has battled through the highs and lows of being a professional athlete, overcoming being dropped by NZ coach Noeline Taurua to winning the ANZ Premiership with the Central Pulse.
The rollercoaster appeared to come crashing down days out from the World Cup as a calf injury threatened to end her tournament before it began, but she battled through and played a crucial role for the Ferns as they beat Australia 52-51 to claim New Zealand's first gold medal since 2003.
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Rore came up with arguably the biggest turnover of the final late in the second quarter, when her intercept broke a back-and-forth tussle to help the Silver Ferns to a three-goal lead at halftime over the Diamonds before scraping home by one-goal.
Having captained New Zealand to fourth place at the Commonwealth Games last April, Rore thought this moment might never come.
"This tops the cake, it's outstanding," said Rore. "Sport has some highs and lows, and the lows are worth these highs. At the time, you don't think that, but today is a darn good day.
"The lows make winning mean more. I'm thankful Noeline trusted me to come in with an injury and play a position [wing defence] I don't know too well. She trusted me, and this team is special.
"I'll take this into my life, jobs and hopefully people can be inspired by this, when you get knocked down, you get back up, and then this happens."
Since taking over as Silver Ferns coach last August, Taurua has always put an emphasis on fitness, and that was something Rore has been focusing on.
Many expected the Ferns to be sluggish, having had to overcome hosts England just 24 hours earlier to reach the final, but that wasn't the case.
"We woke up this morning fresh. We're a fit side; everything we do is ruthless from recovery to training.
"We had no days off coming into the tournament, and we're hard taskmasters of each other, and I think in the final minutes of crunch games, you can see that."
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