How do you measure success in your career and set your aspirations when athletes worldwide are in an indefinite and uncertain suspension of reality?

Olympian Kathryn Mitchell says there is a stark difference between needing to go to the Tokyo Olympics and a desire to go to Tokyo for the Games next year.

Mitchell has felt the fickle popularity from the public and wider athletics' community tied to big results from school athletics to reaching an Olympic javelin final and winning Commonwealth gold on the Gold Coast in 2018. That gold medal-winning throw of 68.92 metres was the furthest any woman had thrown a javelin in seven years and holds true to today.

The closer retirement might loom for the 37-year-old, the more Mitchell is realising how she does not want her life defined by that number or the medals she earns.

Mitchell made clear the shift in her mindset ahead of the Gold Coast Games and in the aftermath of her medal.

In speaking with respected sports presenter and exercise scientist Craig Harper, on his podcast The You Project last week, Mitchell was hungry to reach the Tokyo Olympic final, to be an Olympic champion. But she does not need it to define her as a person or her success.

"(One day) I realised when I was a kid my dream was to go to the Olympics, it was to tour the world being one of the best javelin throwers in the world - to be the best javelin thrower in the world, which I did do in 2018," Mitchell said.

"...I am living my childhood dream and don't get me wrong, there's not much about my life I would change. I'm happy with what I've done and where I'm at."

This perspective is particularly pertinent right now.

Stripped back with no fans and little chance of public adulation right now, excepting social media channels, or teammates to pump you up, athletes are left training. Most are not entirely sure when or if their competitions will resume or what format such revived competition might take.

It is hard to gauge even if the titles up for grabs this year or next will even carry the same fan weight and sponsorship showers.

It is hard to gauge how much impeded training regimes will impact results.

Mitchell is training is isolation from her Ballarat home, nursing a shoulder niggle on a modified program, but training. The Olympics being pushed back a year has enabled her the chance to rest, to plot how best to train smarter and to really reflect on why she really wants to be back on an Olympic stage.

There is no denying medals bring a sense of glory.

But in Ballarat, being an Olympian really means something. There is an incredible legacy in this city of Olympians giving back to emerging athletes across the region that has nothing to do with titles, but sharing experience from being at the top of their game.

This is a key factor in the city's impressive sporting prowess - and that is a success worth celebrating.

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