He's been there in spirit, helping taekwondo proteges prepare and calming their pre-bout nerves down the phone line. Come July, Master Kesi O'Neill will finally get to experience the Olympics atmosphere first-hand, and contribute his expertise at the ultimate arena.
Highly successful as both a competitor and an instructor - including a decade coaching the New Zealand team until 1990 - the Tauranga-based master will head to London as coach of Samoa, his country of birth.
O'Neill's Olympics mission began four years ago when Samoa got its first crack at qualification, for Beijing. The 50-year-old retains strong ties to Samoa and, as a coach, was keen to kick-start their campaign.
One of his two Samoan fighters at the '07 Oceania qualifier, Simon Ahim, claimed silver and was on standby for Beijing.
"After that, I had told them that if they needed anything I would help with advice," he says.
"It's an honour to become an Olympic coach. The Olympics are the biggest thing, the ultimate."
Samoa earned its Olympic taekwondo debut when Kaino Thomsen-Fuataga and Talitaga Crawley won their respective male and female heavyweight divisions at the Oceania qualifying tournament last September.
Helping the fighters adapt to the new electronic sensor scorepads, now used universally, and associated changes in scoring is a key focus.
"The electronic pads mean using different technique, a spin kick can score four points while a straight kick scores one, so flexibility is crucial now."
A fourth dan black belt, O'Neill was the first New Zealander to take international gold in the discipline at the Korean Open, and has a Commonwealth championships silver medal plus numerous New Zealand and international titles.
Locally, he is the instructor and driving force of the Tauranga-Mount Maunganui and Tauriko clubs, and nationally his Team KO draws in Morrinsville, Tokoroa and Balcutha.
Susan Graham, who O'Neill coached with the New Zealand team, bagged silver when taekwondo was an exhibition sport at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.
"She rang me two hours before her fights. I helped her with her build-up before the bouts, especially mentally," he recalls.
On the wall of his Tauranga-Mount Maunganui club headquarters is a flag from the 2004 Olympics - a gift from Verina Wihongi who placed ninth at Athens and is another former student.
"From competing and coaching, I know many masters around the world. When it was announced I'd be coaching Samoa I got a lot of messages saying things like "Finally we'll see you at the Olympics."
Aged 20, Crawley will fight in the women's heavyweight (+67kg) grade and came to Tauranga from Samoa six weeks month ago to train with O'Neill.
Fighting in the female grades at the Rodney Open recently, Crawley won both the heavyweight division and a combined middleweight/heavyweight category. She will hone her competition attack at the New Zealand nationals, which O'Neill's Tauranga-Mount club is hosting on June 2-3.
Set to compete in the men's heavyweight (+80kg) division, Thomsen-Fuataga has hit the road to boost his experience against heavyweights. Travelling since last September, the 25-year-old's programme has included events in Brazil, Mexico, the US and Germany.
Standing about 173cm and a second dan black belt, Thomsen-Fuataga will face opponents up to 190cm tall at London.
"We have to work on ways for him to get inside bigger opponents' reach and fight from there."
O'Neill has also had a significant coaching role with Auckland fighter Logan Campbell, who finished in the top-16 of the under-60kg grade at Beijing and is one of the three-strong New Zealand taekwondo team for London.
"Verina and Logan both told me: 'Make sure they don't get in the [Olympic] arena and freeze like I did the first time,"' he says.
Thomsen-Fuataga will join O'Neill for a trip home to Samoa in early June. They will meet the Samoan Olympic Committee and be introduced in Parliament, where O'Neill will speak.
"The whole of Samoa will be buzzing that the country is to compete in taekwondo at the Olympics. It's usually weightlifting, boxing, rugby that get the publicity," Master Kesi says.
The trio head to England in the middle of next month, where they will train for a month before the Olympics in West London, courtesy of scholarships from the Samoan government.