Not all stories have happy endings.

But this one sure did.

Saya Sakakibara has won the Olympic gold medal that she had always dreamed of, ending two dominant years of racing with as complete display as you’ll ever see.

She led every race from the moment the gate dropped to when she surged across the line almost 40 seconds later.

So staggering was her triumph and dominance that it had Briton Bethany Shriever, who had similarly gone through unbeaten in the quarters and semis, trailing in her wake.

That this coronation came after the 24-year-old almost quit the sport, suffering from lingering concussion symptoms for a year after she was knocked unconscious in the semifinals of the Tokyo Games, only adds to the rich tapestry of her story.

All the other trauma she has gone through takes it to a new level, but also helped her achieve such greatness.

“I’m just so grateful for all the hard experiences that I had in the past, ever since Tokyo, ever since Kai’s accident,” she said.

“Everything that I went through, I’m just so grateful for all those hard moments, because those are the moments that made me really dig deep, really go internal and just find myself with BMX again.”

The tears that flowed so readily as Advance Australia Fair played contained a whole myriad of emotions that can barely be described in a simple article.

“I just wanted to leave here having enjoyed enjoyed the experience and having put everything out there, and that I did absolutely everything that I could, no matter what the result is,” she said.

“I wanted to look back on the videos of my performance and be like, yeah, I’m proud of that. And I definitely did that.”

Before the chaos and carnage of competition began at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines BMX stadium to the west of Paris, Sakakibara took a moment to herself on course.

She readjusted her gloves. Her goggles. Waved at her brother Kai in the crowd.

And then she exhaled.

A quiet moment to reflect on the journey she has been on: as tumultuous as any athlete at this Games.

And that’s before the COVID diagnosis earlier in the week that she admitted had her feeling like her dream of glory was all over. 

Sakakibara’s story is a mix of outstanding success and incredible heartache, those awesome peaks never quite offsetting the devastating lows.

BMX is a sport that has given the 24-year-old and her family so much — back-to-back World Cup series titles, her relationship with French bronze medallist Romain Mahieu — and taken away just as much.

Four days ago, Sayakibara posted a photo to social media of her standing with her brother, Kai to celebrate his birthday.

“Thanks for giving me this gift that is BMX,” she wrote.

“Thanks for pushing me to be my best.

That Kai is next to her, that he is standing at all, is close to a miracle in itself.

The accident that cost him his own chances of a BMX career in 2020 could have killed him.

Instead, that moment in Bathurst left Kai in a coma for two months and in hospital for eight months, and Saya with a constant reminder as to the callous cruelty of this most thrilling of sports.

She dedicates all her racing success to Kai, overwhelmed by the support that he gives her “with no guilt, no jealousy,” and has donned his number 77 on her back ever since the accident.

Saya’s own crash, in the semifinals of the Tokyo Olympics, left her career in the balance.

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Why would she come back? 

Australia coach Luke Madill said she was “extremely close” to giving the sport away.

This dangerous, exhilaratingly brilliant sport, is the cruellest of life-partners.

But the rewards are so rich.

“I think I was thinking more about Tokyo [after Kai’s accident],” Sakakibara said.

“I really wanted that fairy tale ending at Tokyo and when I didn’t get it, it was definitely heartbreaking, and it took took some time to recover from that

“But I think it was the experiences that I needed to take and have in order to come back for my second Olympics in Paris and win this gold.”

The other side of BMX’s sharp-edged coin was evident here too.

Britain’s silver medallist from Tokyo, Kye Whyte, crashed out in the second run of the semifinal and was carried away to hospital on a stretcher.

One can only hope that this latest accident is not as bad as the one he suffered aged 13. 

Then, the British rider was left in a coma for five days after suffering a bleed on the brain following a crash.

Whyte’s was one of four crashes in the 12 semifinal races, excluding Aussie Lauren Reynolds aborting her final run while attempting a pass on the third straight.

This is not a sport for the faint of heart.

Izaac Kennedy will know that.