As young as six, Simone Pearce dared to dream - one day she would be an Olympian.
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But this wasn't just a dream never spoken of.
After representing Lockington Primary School at an interschool competition at Werribee, the young Bawawm rider decided to go on the record with her biggest ambition.
“The newspaper came out to interview Simone because she had won the whole thing; she was only in grade one and had beaten all the high school kids for the overall champion,” Simone's mother Robyn Pearce recalled.
“They asked her, ‘what was it like?’, and Simone said ‘it was really great; when you're riding for your school it's like riding at the Olympics, you're representing something'.
“Well then they asked, ‘what's your dream?'.
“And Simone said, ‘one day to ride at the real Olympics'.”
Now, more than 20 years later, Simone has fulfilled that childhood dream, debuting with horse Destano at the Tokyo Olympics Games last night.
“It was always that little in-the-background thing, but you never really think that it's going to happen, especially coming from our background,” Robyn said of Simone's achievement.
“We've stood for it, we've believed in it and batted for it all the time. Slowly getting better horses and selling this to buy that.”
“So for me (finding out she made the Olympics), it was a feeling of relief having arrived somewhere after a very long journey.”
For the past decade that journey has taken Pearce to Europe, after initially moving there at 18 to work as an au pair during her gap year before getting herself a gig at a stable in Germany.
“She had five months experience there and then came home and said: ‘Mum, if I really want to do this and go up against the best of the best, the action is over there’, so she went back,” Robyn said.
In hindsight that decision to move her entire life to another continent was crucial to putting Simone on the path towards a maiden Olympics.
“It was pivotal; if she hadn't done that she would still be like most of the Aussie kids back here, and that's not an invalidation of them,” Robyn said.
“But you can't rise up in a bucket of low fat milk, you've got to get in with the cream.”
Like any athlete, Simone has faced her fair share of adversity along the way, including a bad injury in 2018 after a horse collapsed on her and crushed her.
Despite a broken collarbone and six broken ribs, Robyn said her daughter rebounded admirably.
“She was pretty amazing about it. When she was in hospital at the time, the biggest thing she was saying was ‘I've got to get back to my horses’," Robyn said.
“And she was back out there quite quickly and competing again. She put it behind her.
“She had 11 broken bones in that 12-month period from various things, but bounced back time after time.”
With the Olympic Games officially opening on Friday night, Robyn said a tear was brought to her eye that day, with the whole thing "becoming real".
However, these few weeks have certainly been bittersweet for the mum, in part due to the fact she can't be there in the stands of Equestrian Park cheering Simone on.
“It's great to see her fulfil her dream, but it's heart-wrenching not to be there. I would love to be there,” Robyn said.
With the COVID-19 pandemic putting a stop to a Tokyo reunion between mother and daughter, it has also had an effect on the celebration back at home.
“We had a couple hundred people coming together, but COVID-19 put paid to that,” Robyn said.
“So now we're doing a Zoom line. We'll all be watching our screens individually but with us all on a gallery, so we can scroll through and see each other.”
Robyn said she would love to see Simone make the final, the Grand Prix Freestyle on Wednesday, though the scoring system made it hard to predict her chances.
“The way the scoring is set up, 18 horses and riders go through to the final, but it's not the 18 best scores,” Robyn explained.
“It's the best two of each heat, then they'll take the next top six of the best after that.
“So if you're in a strong heat with nine of the best horses in the world, it's hard to know.”
Even if Simone doesn't make the final, there is zero doubt she has already made her home town of Bamawm - and the entire region - proud.
“I like to think it does something special for the town,” Robyn said.
“You'd like to think it gives other people, not just kids, inspiration that they can really go after what they want, no matter what their background is.
“The way we're doing it is not normal. The people who go to the Games own their own horses, and are mostly very wealthy people.
“We'd be one of the very few in the minority that isn't that, so you like to think that does show people that the tough way can be possible.”
Robyn thanked everyone who had reached out or supported Simone and the family over the years.
“The support has been just gorgeous. People have come out of the woodwork that have remembered Simone when she was a little girl competing at shows,” Robyn said.
“She started in the Rochester Pony Club and then the Bamawm Extension Pony Club, and went to Lockington Primary and Rochester High then St Joseph's.
“There has been a lot of people around here who have had some influence on Simone's life, and we really acknowledge the participation that we've had in the community and really thank everyone for their support.”
● A full wrap of Simone and Destano's qualifying run on Sunday night in Wednesday's Riverine Herald.
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