Rio de Janeiro: Marieke Vervoort has already declared the Rio Paralympics will be her last. But this is no ordinary farewell from sport for a top-line athlete.
Vervoort, 37, is an accomplished Paralympian who has a painful degenerative disease that means she is often limited to sleeping only short spells at a time.
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Paralympian: 'Don't feel sorry for me'
Adam Kellerman might be in a wheelchair, but as he gears up for the Paralympic Games in Rio, he says he's living the dream.
One month ago, as the world sharpened its focus on the Rio Olympics, Vervoort went public with the startling admission that she is openly considering euthanasia.
A wheelchair racing silver and gold medallist in London four years ago, Vervoort has publicly spoken of her 'bucket list' after her final Paralympics. Few would imagine such a list also includes the choice to end her life, and bring an end to her pain.
"After Rio, I will stop my sports career, I want to see what life brings me and I will try to enjoy the finest moments," she was quoted as saying by England's Daily Express.
"I have a bucket list, including stunt flying, and I have started thinking about euthanasia. In spite of my condition, I have been able to experience things that others can only dream of.
"After my physical problems I never thought I'd get here. Rio is my last wish. I train very hard, even if I have to fight day and night against my disease."
Vervoort battles excruciating pain just to be able to train regularly. Her online diary reveals regular torment.
This entry from Sunday, 17 July - translated using an online tool - illustrates her daily struggles.
"Fortunately I had a better night even though I had a moment of crisis for about 45 minutes. With me this morning, it felt like I had slept only an hour, but that was not the case," she wrote.
"My body is just exhausted from all that ... I let the nurse this morning give me a shot of morphine and this morning went purely on character to the training. Eddy and Liiane took me to the training and was waiving (sic) and processing simultaneously. I literally knocked all my fears and frustrations out of me."
Vervoort's oft-quoted attitude to euthanasia may, in time, become one of the historical markers of the Rio Paralympics.
As a resident of Diest in north-eastern Belgium, Vervoort has a choice in front of her that's simply not available to so many others. Euthanasia has been legal in Belgium since 2002, requiring the written consent of multiple doctors to take place.
One online publication has even gone as far as reporting that Vervoort has already made up her mind about ending her life and has set a date in 2017.
What is clear, however, is how much meaning she attaches to her capacity to train and compete, regardless of the pain.
"Everybody sees me laugh with my gold medal, but no one sees the dark side," she told La Parisien.
They are telling words but so are the following, as she discusses what her funeral might look like:
"I want everyone to have a glass of champagne in hand, and a thought for me."
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