Eight years, 110 world tour tournaments and 385 matches together and the Olympic dream of Tauranga beach volleyballers Jason Lochhead and Kirk Pitman comes down to one week in the coastal city of Fuzhou in China next month.
Direct entry to August's Olympic Games is over for the duo who, after a good start to the world tour, have reset their sights on the fallback plan - the Continental Cup Asia zone final in China from June 18-24.
The pair, partners on the FIVB world tour since 2004, join Tauranga siblings Sam and Ben O'Dea at the last-chance qualifier in Fuzhou, with 16 nations in the Asian zone chasing a solitary spot in London.
New Zealand finished second to Australia at their Asia-Pacific Olympic qualifier at Mt Maunganui in February but still qualified for the Asia Confederation Continental Cup, with the winner going to London subject to final selection by the New Zealand Olympic Committee.
Even a second or third might be good enough, with the next two teams going to Sardinia with the second and third placegetters from the four other Continental Cups to play for the last two places.
As Pitman caught up with family this week in the Far North, Lochhead and the O'Deas put the finishing touches to their preparations for China at Lochhead's man-made beach court in rural Te Puna before heading to Los Angeles and two weeks with coach Jeff Conover, who has already booked his spot in London as coach of the top US women's team.
The O'Dea brothers have been plying their trade on the Asian circuit, buoyed by a series of podium finishes, and also gathered enough ranking points to play (unsuccessfully) in qualifying rounds for world tour grand slams in Shanghai and Beijing.
Lochead and Pitman had a superb start to the world tour, with the New Zealand No 1 pairing coming ninth at the US$190,000 ($250,000) Brasilia Open, the first tournament of the world tour, 17th in Poland and ninth again at the Beijing grand slam.
The top 16 teams in the world after the US$300,000 Rome Grand Slam from June 12-17 qualify automatically for London. With each country allowed only two teams at the Olympics, Pitman and Lochhead are 20th, unable to make up the four places needed.
"It was our best start to a season ever but obviously needed to be better to be lining up in the top 16," Lochhead said yesterday. "It was looking possible at one stage, although was always a huge ask, but we gave it a go. In a way it's a shame the old qualifying rules don't apply (top 24 in the world) but it means our total focus now is China."
The Continental Cup final is played on a Davis Cup-style format, with all four players' results counting over two singles matches, two reverse singles and a golden set to 15 points in the event of a 2-2 tie. New Zealand split its top men's pairing for the Oceania zone Olympic qualifying tournament at Mt Maunganui, with Pitman teaming with Ben O'Dea and Lochead playing with Sam.
It was a move designed to shake things up and create two strong pairings but backfired, with Australia winning the gold medal match 4-0, dropping just two sets. It won't be repeated, Lochhead says, although there are benefits in a temporary break from Pitman.
"Me and Kirk have played together for such a long time that it was good to have time apart, work out what each other's strengths and weaknesses are and improve us all, [but] I think we knew what we're doing now [back to the old partnerships] was what we were going to do anyway unless something crazy good happened.
"Me and Kirk playing together is definitely the best option for us. Sam and Ben will be the strongest second team in China and we'll go in as one of the strongest No 1 teams, so if [the O'Deas] pick up their share of wins and we win every game, we'll be in."
Ben said they had struck several of the top country combinations on the Asian tour, including Kazakhstan and China, and had held their own, although the spectre of using golden set to break a deadlock added a cut-throat dimension to the tournament.
"I'm excited rather than nervous. We've used the format against Australia and even though we didn't get the result we wanted we're back to our old partnerships and will back ourselves to do well."
New Zealand's four-strong women's team is also heading to the Continental Cup final, with Tauranga schoolgirl Alice Bain an 11th hour selection to partner Melissa Ruru, with Micah Lindsay-Brown and Julia Tilley the other combination, although they are unlikely to challenge for an Olympic spot.
Pitman and Lochhead narrowly missed out on Beijing four years ago and there's a steely determination this time around to get a Kiwi team on to the sand for the first time since brothers Glenn and Reid Hamilton went to Atlanta in 1996, when beach volleyball debuted.
"One week in China, that's pretty much it," Lochhead said. "It's going to be huge, with plenty of excitement and energy around, although it's sudden-death so who knows what will happen.
"It was tough missing out on Beijing when we'd put in so much effort, so Kirk and I don't want to miss out again."