Anna Hursey: From 11-year-old sensation to Commonwealth Games medal dreams
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Anna Hursey, 11, was thought to be the youngest competitor in Commonwealth Games history
It was fitting that a script this unbelievable was played out at the home of so many Hollywood films.
The table tennis venue at the 2018 Commonwealth Games was Oxenford Studios, the set for Thor, Pirates of the Caribbean and, more recently, Elvis.
But four years ago the cameras were trained on an 11-year-old schoolgirl from Cardiff, who was thought to be the youngest competitor in almost a century of Commonwealth Games history.
Anna Hursey had caused a media sensation when Team Wales included her in the roster for Gold Coast, with millions of people watching videos of her on social media and journalists from around the world wanting to tell her story.
This interest continued throughout the Games, with Team Wales and Table Tennis Wales doing their best to protect a player who had only just started secondary school.
"There were always people asking for interviews," recalls Stephen Jenkins, the former Team Wales table tennis player-turned-national coach.
"They wanted to know some bizarre questions. What does she eat? What does she listen to? Everything they wanted to know about this 11-year-old superstar.
"It felt like it was worldwide. I've been on holiday and people have asked me what I do. Then they say, 'Who's that girl Anna Hursey?'"
Archive: 11-year-old Anna Hursey goes from the school playground to the Commonwealths
Hursey had started the sport when she was five and quickly showed her talent.
She had represented Wales internationally by the age of 10. The Commonwealth Games were her first major senior event, and she rose to the challenge.
She helped earn doubles wins over India and Sri Lanka as Wales reached the quarter-finals of the women's team event.
Now, aged 16 and with GCSEs done and dusted this summer, Hursey is ready to push on this time around.
"It was a great experience [in Gold Coast]," she told BBC Sport Wales. "I loved playing in the courts.
"There was a lot of media so hopefully I will be a little less nervous on that [this time].
Hursey, right, celebrates with coach Stephen Jenkins and teammate Chloe Thomas Wu Zhang, left.
"I think I've improved a lot. I've been to world competitions and been winning some of them. My ranking has gone up quite a lot.
"We have to aim high otherwise we're never going to get there. We'll try to win a medal and we'll give it our best."
Her Wales coach Jenkins believes Hursey "lived up to expectation" with her performances and results in Gold Coast, but also agrees she has made big improvements since.
"She's been living abroad and training in different environments," he said.
"She's playing against a lot of senior players in Portugal and she's used to older opposition.
"She loves the game and she trains hard and she believes she's a lot stronger physically.
"I've always said she can be top 50 in the world."
Hursey says a medal in the women's team event would mean "everything".
It is a close-knit group with Hursey having played alongside Charlotte Carey and Chloe Thomas Wu Zhang for almost half her life now, while teenager Lara Whitton will complete the line-up in her debut Games.
But Hursey's goals in life go beyond the Commonwealth podium.
She is a strong voice on climate change and part of a panel advising US President Joe Biden on the best action to take, arguing change is needed now rather than in a few years.
The Cardiff teenager is a determined, principled athlete who is ready to take centre stage once again in Birmingham.
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