All eyes are on Paris this week for the start of the 2024 Olympics, and the 460 Australians selected to represent their country on sport’s greatest stage. The athletes’ excitement, radiating from behind a microphone on the evening news or on playful social media reels, is intoxicating.

But many will find it hard to watch. There may be hundreds going, but there are hundreds more who feel they could – or should – be there. Instead, this group of “almost Olympians” are left waiting in the queue outside Australian sport’s most exclusive club, whose doors have long since closed.

They may be absent by misadventure. Tokyo Olympian Storm Hunter, who was in line to play both singles and doubles tennis in Paris, ruptured her Achilles in April during a training session. “My first thought was ‘can I still make it to Paris’,” Hunter said. Telling her family – who were looking forward to watching her play in France – was the toughest part. “My family were going to come and support so it was a dream for them too.”

For Hunter, watching the Olympics build-up has triggered mixed emotions. “I am so happy for all the Aussie athletes there because they have worked so hard to get there and have earned the right to enjoy that moment, but I feel some sadness and my heart breaks a little bit,” she said.

Hunter is not alone. Australia’s top gymnast Georgia Godwin suffered her own Achilles injury in May, having helped the women’s team secure a place at the Olympics for the first time since 2012. “It’s extremely heartbreaking, it’s not ideal,” Godwin said in the days afterwards.

Rather than suffer injury, some athletes were overlooked by selectors. Rosie Malone was left out of the Hockeyroos squad, even though she was one of just five shortlisted for the International Hockey Federation’s player of the year award last year. She remained resolute.

“What defines good enough? I honestly don’t even know anymore,” Malone posted on Instagram, saying that if she could tell her younger self something it would be: “Trust your instincts. Have courage. Stay fearlessly authentic. And remember …The wind blows strongest at the top of the mountain.”

Some athletes simply failed to finish where they had hoped. Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning diver Georgia Sheehan ended up third in qualification in the 3m springboard, missing one of the two places on offer. “That has been the sole hardest thing about not qualifying for the team, you don’t feel like you’re just diving for yourself, but for my whole family,” Sheehan told ABC Radio. “Your whole world comes crashing down in two seconds.”

It was Sheehan’s friend Alysha Koloi who narrowly beat her to second. “I did my dive, and she did her dive, and there was only half a point between us. You see that moment happen, and in a second it’s all over.”

Another Commonwealth Games medal-winning diver, Sam Fricker, has developed a large social media presence out of upbeat videos. He too missed out on selection but has continued to post regularly, including endorsements for cereal and travel companies. One video tried to reconcile his Instagram persona with the sadness of missing Paris, with the words “POV: Flying home from the Olympic trails when you didn’t make the team” and him on a plane, seemingly lost in thought.

It wasn’t wholly convincing. His friend and diving colleague Brittany O’Brien – another athlete influencer who missed selection – posted jokingly underneath, “Hey Britt can you get a video of me looking sad,” to which Fricker replied: “Not sad enough, take it again”.

Even some who get to travel to the Games don’t fully feel part of the action. Travelling reserves, in team sports such as hockey or gymnastics, are selected in case there is a late injury. They will train alongside their peers, but will not be formally recognised as Olympians unless they take the field.

Former Matildas goalkeeper Casey Dumont was one of these alternate players at Rio in 2016. She said going to the Games has been one of the highlights of her career, but being a reserve “is not easy and you question a lot of things”.

Dumont recalled being on the fringe of the squad: sitting in the stands rather than on the bench, not receiving ceremonial uniforms, not having the same travel schedule but still attending each training session like the other players. “It’s a huge toll,” she said, before adding “I wouldn’t change it for world as I got to experience Olympics that way.”

Most athletes who aren’t going to Paris say they are using the setback as motivation. O’Brien said, “it’s taking great patience and trust in the process but I’ll be back and better than ever”. Godwin has already posted on Instagram taking her moonboot for a few spins on the uneven bars.

Despite admitting to shedding tears in recent months, Hunter has, like many Australians, settled into her place on the couch. “⁠I am actually so excited for the Games to start,” she said. “I don’t think I will be feeling down or sad, I think I will feel inspired.”

And for her, watching the broadcast is a reminder the cycle to Los Angeles has already begun. “I’m also happy that I can relate to that experience, and can reflect back on Tokyo and the feelings I had when I was there and use that as motivation for my recovery.”