Most athletes deny they are motivated by the fleeting immortality of a place in the record books
But Ed Clancy is not most athletes and Barnsley's track cycling legend is being driven on by emulating Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent.
At the age of 36, Clancy will go to Tokyo to pursue a fourth team pursuit gold medal and the continuation of a golden run stretching back to Beijing 2008.
"It's hard to get to the top and it's even harder to stay there," said Clancy.
"The level of competition is getting higher every year that passes and I'm not going to be around forever.
"But that's why the likes of Redgrave and Pinsent are held in such high esteem.
"Of course, being mentioned even in the same breath as those guys is what excites and motivates me."
Only a handful of British Olympic hopefuls chose not to continue to train for an extra year and pursue Tokyo ambitions.
But many came close and Clancy was one of them, with diversions including a successful cycling academy bearing his name tempting him away.
"I questioned it a lot, to be honest. I thought long and hard about continuing for another 12 months," he said.
"About 21 years ago, I saved up my paper round money to try out at the British Cycling velodrome. I may not have many more days in that building and it's almost like family.
"It would have been a shame to have gone four years into a five-year cycle and not seen it out. In some ways, the renewed motivation was a good thing.
"For a long time, I'd gone from race to race, from road to track. I've never felt like I've had more ability to concentrate on eating, sleeping and riding a bike fast.
"I've not been pulled from pillar to post for the first time in a long time, and hopefully that will come through in our performance in Tokyo."
The task facing Clancy and a callow team pursuit group is a tall one.
At last year's World Championships in Berlin, the British quartet went out in the first round and watched on as Denmark shattered the record Clancy and co held for eight years.
The Yorkshire star will be joined by Ollie Wood, Ethan Hayter and Ethan Vernon for this particular endurance event at the Games.
Clancy's personal power and ability to last long turns at the front of the pack has been a big part of Britain's dominance in the 4000m event. Even he harbours a shred of doubt that he can still put out world-leading wattage through three rounds of racing.
"On a single day, I can still perform just as well as I did in 2012," said Clancy.
"What's difficult is backing up those performances week in, week out. It's harder to string together six-hour days back-to-back, just because you recover slower.
"With the level of competition in Tokyo, there will be no room for pacing ourselves in any round.
"Back in Beijing, we might have been able to ride at 95% and save a bit for the second round.
But the way it is now and how tight the competition's going to be, I think everything is going to need full gas."