Mark McGivern is still living the dream, two-and-a-half years on from London 2012 as he represents what little legacy there is left for British volleyball.
While there is no hope of a GB team gracing an Olympic court again unless there is a dramatic U-turn on funding, the Bellshill-born middle player is plying his trade at the highest level, playing for ASUL Lyon, who sit eighth in the French Pro "A" League, but just four points off third place. No Scottish player has played at a higher level in the European club game and, perhaps, no Scot will reach such heights again.
True, the six years spent building a team capable of competing with the world's best nations brought many of the GB squad decent professional contracts. But, of the 12 that played at London 2012, only three (McGivern, Rio-born Mark Plotyczer in the German Bundesliga with TV Buhl and, another Scot, Chris Lamont with Dutch Eredivisie side Inter Rijswijk) are still earning a crust in the main European leagues. There are no GB teams now.
McGivern, 31, expected more from the Olympics and, not surprisingly, now sees it as a one-off happening, rather than the start of something big for the sport.
"It's been a long time since the Olympics, a lot of players stopped playing after competing in London," he says. "Sadly, there's not many of us from the Olympic team who still compete. A few of the guys have gone to university and are combining studies with volleyball and the rest are working 'normal' jobs.
"I had already signed a two-year contract here in Lyon before I competed in the London Olympics so they didn't directly influence my career at that point.
"Unfortunately, given the current situation with volleyball funding in the UK, the only thing I can take from the Games is that they were a memorable experience.
"I made lifelong friends in my team-mates in the years leading up to the Games, played against fantastic teams on the world stage and will remember it as a highlight of my career - it was once in a lifetime, if you like."
McGivern, how in his fifth season in France, has adapted to the way of life there, but his early career in the Scottish League, where he played for Team Fife and City of Edinburgh and City of Glasgow Ragazzi, gave him the building blocks.
If he was taken to another level by the full-time GB programme under Dutch coach Harry Brokking, he is indebted to his coaches at grassroots level.
"My most influential coach was Colin McGinley from my first team, Team Fife. His enthusiasm for the game grabbed me from the beginning and kept me involved," he says. "He is such a great person to be around and I learned a lot from him.
"Another coach who had a big influence was my first national team coach, Thomas Dowens. He demanded a high level from his players, something that I think only he could do in Scottish volleyball at the time."
At that time, making a living out of the game seemed impossible, but now he is preparing to face French league leaders AS Cannes on Friday. He does so in a team that, not only includes French players, but Bulgarians, Canadians, a Brazilian and a Cuban. He does not look out of place.
"Our captain Vladimir Nikolov was the captain of the Bulgarian national team who we played in our first game of the Olympics," he says. "He has played all over the world and won many league championships and a champions league gold medal. I learn something new from him every day."
McGivern wants to play at this level for as long as he can and in Nikolov, who is aged 37, he has the perfect role model.
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