Isobel Borlase was born in Melbourne's Sandringham Hospital 15 days after the 2004 Olympics.
In Athens that year, a 23-year-old Lauren Jackson claimed a second silver medal with the Australian Opals and, already a global superstar, had a WNBA Most Valuable Player award under her belt.
Later this month, the now 19-year-old and 43-year-old will be team mates representing Australia in Paris.
The contrasting tales of the Opals youngest and oldest star headline the 12-player team that was officially unveiled in Melbourne.
Borlase's rise, via Adelaide Lighting in the WNBL, has been meteoric, and she simply forced her way into coach Sandy Brondello's lineup with her performances at international level following her Opals debut at February's FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Brazil.
The athletic forward, who oozes composure and class, shone on tours to China and Japan in May and June and again over the past week in Melbourne at the Ballin'24 pre-Olympic tournament against a visiting Chinese team.
Fittingly, she is the Opals youngest Olympian since Jackson in Sydney 2000.
Jackson's comeback to the sport she dominated globally through the early to mid-2000's knows no bounds.
Just when her heroics at the 2022 FIBA World Cup, where she guided Australia to a bronze medal, seemed like the fitting fairytale ending to a remarkable comeback at age 41, Jackson played on.
More significantly, she fought on.
Riding that World Cup momentum, Jackson competed in the 2022-23 WNBL season for the Southside Flyers and cruelly in a tribute game to celebrate her decorated career ruptured her Achilles. She was already playing on a broken foot.
As only this country's greatest ever basketballer could, Jackson mended her champion body, which has also carried and birthed two sons, and returned to the court in season 2023-24 and in March won a seventh WNBL championship.
Fighting fit and moving beautifully up and down the court, Jackson, too, forced herself into the team and will now play in a record fifth Olympics, a remarkable 12 years after her last and 24 since her first in Sydney.
The Opals team has a true blend of experience, in the likes of captain Tess Madgen and soon-to-be triple Olympians Marianna Tolo and Cayla Geroge, and youth in the likes of 21-year-old Jade Melbourne who is currently competing in her second WNBA campaign.
There were no selection surprises by Brondello. This is the team she would have picked in June or April.
The sporting pinnacle that is an Olympic Games delivers incredible stories and this Opals team boasts plenty.
In addition to Borlase and Jackson, there's guard Sami Whitcomb who will turn 36 on the eve of the Games.
Born in California, she arrived in Australia in 2014 to play in WA after the European team she had signed with went bust. She dominated state league then the WNBL and it was that form that earned her a WNBA contract a decade after she went undrafted.
FIBA rules allow one naturalised player and despite point guard Leilani Mitchell having an Australian mother, she was bizarrely considered a naturalised Australian during her 2014-2021 stint for the national team. Whitcomb represented the Opals, and won a silver medal, at the 2018 FIBA World Cup when Mitchell was injured and has taken the baton since the 2022 World Cup.
Whitcomb now realises her Olympic dream albeit for a country where she has carved out a career and made a home.
An Olympian in Tokyo, Alanna Smith missed selection for a home World Cup and has let her ever-evolving game and form do the talking in Europe and the WNBA over the past two seasons. She will become a dual Olympian in Paris.
Guard Kristy Wallace watched the Opals last Olympic campaign on television in a year where she triumphantly returned to the court after consecutive ACL surgeries. Her selection is a tale of resilience and persistence.
Tours to China and Japan and a home two-game series in Melbourne has provided the Opals with the valuable preparation they lacked in the leadup to Tokyo, a campaign which was derailed by the exit of Liz Cambage from the national program in diabolical circumstances.
Five players from these lead-in games have been selected, Jackson, Borlase, Tolo, George and Madgen and will link up with the squad's seven WNBA representatives - Melbourne, Whitcomb, Smith, Wallace, Ezi Magbegor, Steph Talbot and Bec Allen in Spain for final preparations.
This short but precious time together for the final 12 will be critical as the Opals plot a return to the Olympic podium for the first time since London, Jackson's last Olympics.
Until now.
Australian Opals Paris Olympic Team
Bec Allen, Isobel Borlase, Cayla George, Lauren Jackson, Tess Madgen, Ezi Magbegor, Jade Melbourne, Alanna Smith, Steph Talbot, Marianna Tolo, Kristy Wallace, Sami Whitcomb.