It's said you need some luck on the way to winning a tournament, championship or trophy and for the Opals, 2006 FIBA World Cup winners, it at times felt like Lady Luck might not be on their side.
From a forfeited first game, when an unvaccinated Lithuanian team flew through a South American country requiring yellow fever immunisations to enter, to a dodgy salad that defeated a key play maker and then a semifinal injury to that star, the campaign in Brazil wasn't always smooth. But Australia kept winning and producing brilliant basketball.
And, as had often been the case, archrival, powerhouse USA loomed. The all-conquering team that had also denied the Opals a gold medal at the previous two Olympics.
Enter Russia and the ultimate upset. A 75-68 boilover opened the path for Australia who went on to beat the Russians, 91-74, and win gold. History created and it remains with the Opals of 2006 the only Australian team, men or women, to win a gold medal at a World Cup or Olympics.
World Cup MVP Penny Taylor, who averaged 18 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, recalls two major causes for celebration.
"There were two waves of it. When the USA lost it was a pretty huge moment and knowing we wouldn't have to play them was as much a celebration as when we won the gold as well," she told ESPN.
"They'd been, and still are to this day, such a huge hurdle, and the fact we now had a tournament where we didn't have to find a solution for them was massive."
Kristi Harrower, at the top of her game as one of the world's top point guards, had her fair share of ups and downs in Brazil. She missed a game against Argentina with food poisoning. The culprit, nothing exotic but a basic green leaf salad.
Then, in the final 10 seconds of Australia's semifinal win over the host nation she rolled her ankle. She knew straight away it was bad. The bruising quickly turned black and spread up her leg.
"The girls stayed and watched some of the US/Russia semi, but I went back to the hotel and started to do my routine to get myself up in two days time," Harrowers said.
"The girls left at halftime to come back to the hotel; I was on the physio table and just remember the girls all screaming in their rooms when Russia won."
Harrower iced every two hours for the next 48 to get up for a gold medal game she simply was never going to miss.
"Kristi hurting herself, god that was the worst," Taylor said.
"I knew she'd play though, that's just who she is. You could tell it was bad. Lucky we had Mandy (physio Amanda Bernsten) and Scott (team doctor Scott Burne) with us, I don't think anyone else could have got her on the court in as good a shape as she was."
Unheralded MVP Bernsten formulated a plan that not only would see Harrower play but clock 30 minutes and score 15 points and dish out 5 assists. Emily McInerny was the ultimate team player and a selfless roommate; her sleep interrupted as Harrower rose to ice all night.
This triumph was decades in the making after Lorraine Eiler captained Australia at its first World Cup in 1957 and for everyone who'd been part of the program along the way.
Harrower and Jenny Whittle had been on the journey since 1993 when they were part of a junior World Cup win, Australian basketball's first medal. It was another first for Whittle, three years later when in Atlanta she was part of Australia's first Olympic basketball hardware.
Lauren Jackson, Taylor and Belinda Snell emerged through the AIS pathway together and made history in 1999 when their team of teens won the WNBL title defeating Tully Bevilaqua's Perth Breakers.
Whittle, Jackson and Harrower were on the 1998 national team which claimed Australia's first World Cup medal. A bronze in Berlin.
All paths eventually merged into one with the destination Brazil in 2006.
"We had really well-defined roles which I think is the recipe for a great team. There wasn't any misunderstanding about who and what we were. We had really great balance, it was a pleasure to play with players like that," Taylor said.
As celebrations erupted on the final buzzer there were stories across the court, Taylor at the peak of her powers who remains the only Australian to be crowned MVP at a World Cup. Jackson was one of the greatest players in the world and at her dominant best across the tournament. Snell the quiet, unassuming scoring assassin. Bevilaqua made her Opals debut at the ripe old age of 35, Erin Phillips, with two incredible sporting careers ahead of her, was just 21. Whittle reached the pinnacle after first calling time on her career in 2003, missing the Athens Olympics and then coming out of retirement.
History was made.
"It was relief, happiness, and a nobody-has-even-done-this-before feeling so disbelief as well," Taylor recalled.
The campaign was the mastermind of Jan Stirling who earned the top coaching job after building a WNBL dynasty in Adelaide.
A former Opal herself, Stirling has a deep respect and affinity for the history of the program and after her team triumphed, she penned a letter to every former player thanking them for their contribution to this historic moment.
Harrower summed it up best.
"It wasn't a perfect campaign, but we made it perfect."
2006 World Cup gold medal winning Opals: Lauren Jackson (captain), Tully Bevilaqa, Hollie Florance (nee Grima), Kristi Harrower, Laura Hodges (nee Summerton), Emma McDonald (nee Randall), Emily McInerney, Erin Phillips, Jenni Screen, Belinda Snell, Penny Taylor, Jenny Whittle.
Coach: Jan Stirling Assistant Coaches: Peter Lonergan, Gary Fox
