Amelia White's story is just getting started.
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The Orange athlete just finished competing at her maiden Paralympic Games where she managed to place sixth overall in the Para-equestrian individual freestyle final with a score 72.660 per cent.
She may not have medalled, but you couldn't wipe the smile off her face.
"To make it to the final out of the best of the best was certainly a surreal feeling," she said.
"I think I'm even more motivated. Once you've done one it really gives you the bug.
"I've come away with a new wave of motivation and three years until Paris is a long time in the sport, but also a short time.
"My horse (Genius) will have a break now for a couple of weeks before we start the Winter season here in Europe."
It had been a long road to Tokyo for White who is based out of Germany to accommodate her sporting career.
Because of the pandemic, she hadn't seen her friends or family in Australia for more than a year.
But her performance made it all worth while.
"I know I said that you always want to medal and you always have that hope," she said.
"For our first championship I couldn't have asked for a better result."
The time spent off the field was just as memorable as that on it.
Every country had their own building in the Paralympic village, so White was alongside all the Australian athletes.
"There's this element of everyone being super curious, super interested in who you are and what sport you're in," White added.
"We're all wearing our uniforms, so a lot of people would come up to us and be like 'Australia, how are you?'
"In that sense it's something I've never experienced before because sadly in Europe at international competitions, most of the people tend to stick to themselves, but at the Games it was almost a competition to see how many people you could talk to in a day, how many different countries you can meet and how many different stories you could hear from the other athletes.
"There's this element of 'we finally made it' and COVID really enhanced this feeling as well."
Although she didn't get the opportunity to stay in Tokyo for the closing ceremony, on Monday her picture flashed across the Sydney Opera House, an experience she savoured. Now she will take a well-earned break before gearing up in a couple of weeks.
"We have the World Championships in Denmark next year, so it would be a goal to qualify for the Australian team for that," she added.
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