As the countdown to next month's 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milano-Cortina continues, it is sometimes worth taking a step back and thinking about what the Olympics really means.
"The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well," said Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics.
Sportsmanship and the principles of fair play were at the heart of his Olympic vision.
Nobody has exemplified that more than Australian Sarah Blizzard this week.
At last weekend's World Cup meet in St Mortiz, Switzerland, the Dutch two-man team of Dave Wesselink and Jelen Franjic realised they had a problem.
Their Olympic dream was on the rocks.
The week before, in Winterburg, the Dutch pair finished in 21st place.
To meet the Netherlands' strict qualification criteria, they had to finish in the top eight in Switzerland or face a month off while their rivals were shooting down the Pista Olimpica Eugenio Monti in Cortina d'Ampezzo.
"We saw we had potential in the two-man bobsled but the equipment wasn't good enough," Wesselink told NU.nl.
"A 21st-place finish wasn't where we belonged. That result convinced us we had to do things differently if we still wanted to make it to the Games."
But what to do?
Custom-built sleds can cost anything up to $150,000 and getting a replacement on such short notice would have been impossible.
But what about loaning one for their race?
That's when Blizzard stepped in.
"We kind of work together already," Blizzard tells ABC Sport from Altenburg, where the final World Cup event on the season is set to take place this weekend.
"We have a bit of a cooperation with our team, with the Belgians and the Dutch at the track anyway.
"We have worked together, and the Dutch coaches and mechanics have helped us quite a lot in the past.
"They [the Dutch] had a race in Winterberg in Germany and it wasn't the result that they needed.
"I was actually watching the race in my hotel room and I saw it looked like a nice run. Just there wasn't a lot of speed in the sled and about five minutes later the coach calls me and goes, 'Hey, Blizzard, would you consider lending us your sled in St Moritz?'
"They said there's no speed, they needed a better sled, so I'm like, alright, let's talk about it and it kind of went from there."
It was still a big call to make.
Blizzard's sled is her own, paid for through sponsors and family loans for about €35,000 ($60,700).
Bobsled is not a cheap pursuit.
But Blizzard was happy to loan them the sled and it paid off in a big way.
"They got the result that they needed and it was very heartwarming," Blizzard said.
"We absolutely loved watching it. We were so excited for them, they're great guys. They've been helping us so much and I'm very, very happy for them.
"But then going forward to the Olympics as well, it's another opportunity for them to hopefully perform in a better spot too, because they're obviously capable of it."
The men's two-man bobsleigh race takes place the day before the women's event, so Blizzard and her brake woman, Desi Johnson, would not be using theirs on that day.
"The bobsled world is one big family and we've always had a good relationship with the Australian women," Wesselink said.
"We politely asked if we could borrow their two-man bobsleigh. They said yes, and we didn't even have to pay for it."
The story cuts to the heart of what the Olympic experience is supposed to represent and has incredible parallels with the Italian sliding legend whose name adorns the track where the gold medals will be decided next month.
Eugenio Monti was the first ever recipient of the Pierre de Coubertin Fair Play Trophy for two acts of sporting selflessness at the 1964 Games in Innsbruck.
In the four-man competition Monti helped the Canadian team fix their sled after they broke an axle during their first run and then, in the two-man competition, Great Britain's sled was damaged due to a bolt having sheared off, with Monti offering the Brits one from his sled to enable them to continue to compete.
Both teams that Monti helped went on to win gold in their events, beating Monti and his Italian teammates into the minor medals.
"[British driver Tony] Nash didn't win because I gave him the bolt. He won because he had the fastest run," Monti said amid criticism from the Italian press.
Monti, at that stage in his career, had not won an Olympic gold medal, adding another level to his stellar display of sportsmanship.
It is clearly an ethos that has continued to the present day.
"Bobsleigh is a very friendly sport," Blizzard said.
"If you need help, you can generally find that with the team somewhere. Honestly, it's a very, very friendly sport."
Blizzard, a former track athlete who notably competed in four-straight Stawell Gift finals before switching to the ice to partner Bree Walker in the two-woman bobsled before the last Olympics, is still in the hunt for a spot in Milano-Cortina.
The 29-year-old Victorian slider was a reserve in Beijing and is desperate to compete in Cortina.
She is currently ranked 23rd in the 2025/26 Two-Woman Bobsleigh World Cup standings, with a best performance of 17th in Winterberg at the start of January, although that only takes into account World Cup events, with Blizzard also picking up qualification points on the Europe Cup circuit where she is ranked fifth.
Bree Walker, who is second in the monobob World Cup standings with three wins this season, is ranked 17th in the two-woman standings.
The Aussies will find out if they make it to the Games on Friday, when the team is announced in Melbourne.
The Dutch though are already there.
"My phone is blowing up. It still feels a bit surreal," Wesselink said about the Olympic qualification.
"When we knew we could borrow Sarah's sled this week, we thought we might get a good result. But eighth place is surprising even for us."
So good, in fact, that the arrangement will continue all the way to the Games.
"We can borrow this two-man bobsled again next week for the World Cup in Altenberg and probably during the Games as well," Wesselink said.
"There are no rules that wouldn't allow that."
As for Blizzard, she's more than thankful to the Dutch team and is happy to repay them.
"It's kind of like a big family, bobsleigh," Blizzard said.
"Everyone helps everyone. Quite often, if you need a bolt and you're at the track, someone's gonna have something and they don't mind you using it.
"Sometimes you gotta buy a case of beer or some wine or something, but everyone is incredibly helpful and a lot of people have helped me over the years.
"A lot of people have loaned me things, so I'm glad that I can repay it in a way, but I'm more than happy to help these guys, they help me so much and they've been trying so hard to get these results.
"And they deserve it."
Hopefully Blizzard's kind deed will be repaid with a spot of her own at the Games.
