Kilday started taekwondo at 9, living in Christchurch. She moved to Auckland in 2005 after one of her four trips to world championships. Madrid opened her eyes to the possibilities, just as her first sighting of the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000 did.
"I knew that's what I wanted to go for. It's been a very, very long journey," she said. "I've trained very hard to get where I've got to. Just to know it's paid off and I've finally made it ... "
The words trail off, as if the emotion is still sinking in for the diminutive taekwondo player, who took up the sport, at her mother's suggestion, as a means of self defence.
"I got into one of the South Island tournaments and won that. I fell in love with it."
The thrill at the range of kicks she has mastered gives Kilday a buzz.
Kilday became the first New Zealander to win a Pacific Games title in Papua New Guinea last year; then placed herself in the hands of the New Zealand Olympic Committee selectors when she won the Oceania title, also in PNG last month. It had to be victory to put herself in the frame.
She has fought a handful of her rivals in Rio and has a glass half full philosophy. On any given day a taekwondo player "could have a good day, bad day, could be sick or injured, so everyone has a chance to medal".
Athlete development officer Tim Urquhart has high praise for Kilday's determination and spirit.
"They have basically worked their butts off. It's a huge slog," he said.
He talks of her "determined mindset to go to the Olympics come hell or high water".
There are tournaments in Korea and Bali in the pipeline plus the prospect of a training camp in Dubai with high quality players before Rio. Being in Rio will be a terrific experience, but it will have to be special to top the simple announcement that, finally, she had won the right to be called an Olympian.