When you think of women's headlining their sport in Paris, the top-of-the-mind names in no particular order will possibly be the following: Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka, Marta, Sha'Carri Richardson, Sifan Hassan, Aitana Bonmati and Sun Yingsha. Add India's shining stars - the double-Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, two-time world champion aiming to be a first-time Olympic medal winner Nikhat Zareen, Lovlina Borgohain, who could tell Zareen what standing on the podium feels like, Antim Panghal - and you should be able to partake in conversation on the first gender-equal Olympics.Dive a little deeper and you could add football coach Bev Priestman's removal following Canada's 'drone-attack' or hold forth on equestrian legend Charlotte Dujardin's error of judgment. You could also be familiar with Rachael Gunn, who has a Phd but will be breaking as 'Raygun', Melina Robert-Michon connecting Sydney and Paris in her Olympic arc aged 45 and Zhiying Zeng who is 13 years older but making her Games debut.Each Olympian is a story of sweat, tears and training, of overcoming odds.

But among the 5250 women athletes in Paris, there are those who have raised the bar a little higher. Some of them will medal but all of them are winners. Some like Shayna Jack will vie to clear their name, Maddie Musselman and Sunisa Lee will be looking to add to their gold collection but like Rikako Ikee, Yasameen Al-Raimi and Marloes Oldenburg they are simply glad to be there.In 2019, months after a haul of six gold and two silver in the Asian Games, swimming was far from Ikee's mind as she had been diagnosed with leukaemia. She recovered after 10 months in hospital and made a remarkable comeback in 2020 to win the trials in the 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly.Her timings were good enough to make the Olympic freestyle and medley relay teams but not earn individual spots in those races. That changed in Paris where along with Colombia's Linda Caicedo and Raquel Kochhann, Ikee will be among those who have recovered from cancer.Ikee may or may not be religious but Musselman, 26, has spoken of leaning on her Catholic faith to deal with husband Pat Woepse's lung cancer even as she aims for a third straight waterpolo gold in Paris and an unprecedented fourth for the USA women's team. If she has stayed the course, it is at Woepse's insistence, Musselman has said.It was a phone call that told Musselman what she didn't want to hear.

It was a phone call too that helped Lee reset her goal last January. Lee finished second behind Biles in the USA trials in June getting the ticket to Paris. The 21-year-old gymnast, who won the all-around gold in Tokyo, didn't say who had called but said it got her back to the gymnasium with a vow to be better than before. And now she is here.It was worse for Marloes Oldenburg. Doctors had spoken to her about organ donation, nearly two years before her women's coxless four heat on Sunday, should a critical surgery not go as per plan. A nasty bicycle accident had crushed her back when that conversation took place. Oldenburg was celebrating her medals at the world championship when the accident happened. Oldenburg, 36, still can't turn her head, she has six pins in her back but 12 weeks after her six-hour surgery, she was rowing. "And after 10 months, we became world champions. It was insane," the Dutch rower has said.It was insane for Jack too only that the Australian swimmer felt furious. Preparing for Tokyo in a pre-Covid world, she tested positive for ligandrol, a muscle growth agent, in June 2019. She was banned for four years, her claim that she had not taken it willingly being rejected. As Covid delayed the Olympics, the Court of Arbitration for Sport halved Jack's punishment giving her the benefit of the doubt. But it was too late for Tokyo."I would have my partner, my dogs, my family, my friends, and they couldn't take away my pain," AFP quoted Jack, 25, as saying. It needed a lot of work from her coach Dean Boxall to get Jack back to the pool. "I won't stop until I clear my name," she has said. In 2023, Jack was part of the 4x100m relay team that broke the world record. On Tuesday, Jack will take part in the 100m freestyle heats.Al-Raimi too wouldn't have known if going to Paris would even be an option. The air pistol shooter from Yemen took to the sport in 2010 but paused for five years after war broke out in her country. She resumed in 2020. She has dealt with lack of training facilities and power outages but like Afghanistan sprinter Kimia Yousofi, Al-Raimi has shown no hurdle is too high while chasing an Olympic-sized dream.

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