Kiwi diver Lizzie Roussel admits she almost gave up on her Olympic journey, when she pulled out of the NZ team for Tokyo 2020.
"I qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games in the best physical and mental position I had been in my career, but I found out I was pregnant the year of the Games and withdrew to have my daughter, Athena."
Three years later, Athena Olympia Jean Roussel can cheer on her mother, as she rekindles her Olympic dream at Paris.
Roussel, 26, has been named to contest the women's three-metre springboard event, after finishing third at last year's Oceania championships and 14th at the world championships.
"I didn't know how my body would respond to pregnancy and childbirth, but my husband encouraged me to try again and so I began this journey," she said. "Making the team feels like a fairytale ending to an unexpected story.
"Having my daughter alongside me has only made me stronger and appreciate each moment more."
Roussel was known as Elizabeth Cui, when she became the first Kiwi diver to compete at the Olympics, when she finished 24th at Rio 2016, and went to attend Louisiana State University on a diving scholarship. She and her family are still based in Louisiana.
Roussel finished ninth in the one-metre springboard - an event not contested at the Olympics - at the 2019 world championships.
Her latest selection makes her the first Kiwi diver to appear at two Olympics.
