In the 16 weeks after boxer Shelley Watts qualified for the Rio Olympics, the Aussie gold medal hope endured more than 320 hours of training only to lose in eight minutes.
The defeat to Italian teenager Irma Testa in the opening round of the women's lightweight competition left her shattered - a feeling Watts says she still hasn't recovered from.
"In my wildest dreams I could never have visualised my Rio campaign finishing the way it did," Watts, 29, told Nine's In her Court podcast.
"Obviously it is really hard to deal with and to try to make sense of it is really difficult."
The result was a split decision after four two-minute rounds, with two judges giving it to Testa 39-37 and one to Watts with the same score.
The Commonwealth Games gold medallist said she was rocked by the decision and didn't return to training for three months.
She said the hardest part was returning to her home town, which she left at the age of 19, without an Olympic win.
"To have to come back was difficult," said the 29-year-old, fighting back tears.
"One of the hardest parts was having to go home and see people still proud of you and wanting to be proud of yourself but knowing that you haven't finished what you set out to do."
"It doesn't make you any less appreciative of them trying to do that but unfortunately it doesn't change the fact that you went to Rio and you couldn't win and now you have to start from scratch again."
Since then Watts has set out a list of goals to help rebuild her confidence, with Tokyo at the very top followed by the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
"Obviously the Commonwealth Games is a focus but I still don't think I have that whole motivation back," she said.
"As long as I can keep climbing up that staircase then the motivation will be back a little bit more."
"At the end of the day a loss is a terrible thing but a lot more people have it worse off and I am pretty lucky in what I get to experience."
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