When James Magnussen struggled to find any motivation lurking at the bottom of a pool, he managed to locate some on his couch in the middle of the night, with his arm in a sling, staring at a race on the other side of the world.
In the Russian city of Kazan, during last year's FINA World Championships, Australian Olympic teammate Cameron McEvoy had just stamped himself as his country's dominant male sprinter, winning silver in the 100 metres freestyle final. 
The man that saluted - the man that would wear the crown Magnussen had to relinquish as he had shoulder surgery - was Ning Zetao, now a major celebrity in China as he pushes towards Rio. He's also a former doper.
Should Magnussen make it to Rio in his pet event, a question that will be answered at the Olympic trials in Adelaide starting on Thursday, Zetao will be one of the favourites along with McEvoy.
Magnussen said it didn't sit comfortably that a swimmer who had served a one-year ban for Clenbuterol in 2011 was now the global standard.
"In my own event we had a Chinese swimmer coming off a drug ban take my world title when I wasn't able to defend it. That's not something you like to see. And that's motivation for me to get back to where I want to be and keep the sport as clean as I can," Magnussen said.
The rest of that storyline may play out in Rio. First, Magnussen must try and finish in the top two in Adelaide, a task not made easier by the flying McEvoy and rising star Kyle Chalmers, the 17-year-old South Australian who spurned the AFL draft to pursue Olympic gold.
Magnussen was his old self in front of the cameras, playfully dismissing the challenge of Chalmers and suggesting it was McEvoy that was his prime concern during the week. "Cameron McEvoy is my main competition and I have focused pretty heavily on him. I am not worried who else is in that race."
Later, he said he remembered what it was like being the whiz kid on the rise and knew Chalmers would be hitting the pool ready to add a few heavyweight notches to his belt.
"I'm sure he's looking to take some scalps. When I was coming through I had Eamon [Sullivan] at the top, Matt Targett, guys like that. I wanted to be that young guy that took some scalps and I'm sure that's his intention. It definitely keeps you on your game."
"A lot of things can happen in a big race, stuff you can't prepare for. These days I've pretty much seen it all before ... there's not much that can happen that I haven't come across in the past at some point. That gives me a bit more composure and allows me to stick to my race plan."
If Magnussen did his shooting from the lip before London, where he missed out on 100m gold by a fraction of a second to American Nathan Adrian, then these days he's content to go under the radar.
"I think going into the last Olympics, it was the first time in my life I'd been in the spotlight. I was quite oblivious to what was about to happen and how my life was going to change," he said. "All I knew was that I could swim fast and I was backing my ability ... now I'm a lot more level-headed, more relaxed and quietly confident, rather than telling people what I'm going to do."