It has been nearly a year since PV Sindhu settled for silver. In that time, she has had opportunities to avenge herself against Carolina Marin, who subjected Sindhu to heartbreak in Rio.
'Avenge' is relative, of course. For what encounter can match the significance of an Olympic final?
So, let's make it clear. PV Sindhu's 21-19, 21-16 win over Carolina Marin in the final of the India Open Superseries was not redressal for Rio. Even before the start of the tournament week, they had played each other twice in all competitions. One of those matches barely count; they were 11-points-a-game shootouts in the PBL.
And before that, there was a group stage match of the Dubai Superseries Finals. A match that caught both players exhausted at the end of a season, the high point of which had been achieved already.
So when it was determined that Sindhu and Marin were to play on Sunday evening at the Siri Fort, it was not too hard to see how it was going to be sold.
This wasn't a reprise of the Rio final. This needs be reiterated. Perhaps the players themselves had a sense of humour. Or maybe it was just coincidence. They did the darned best to make it feel that way. For the first 24 minutes of the match at least.
You rubbed your eyes as they walked out on court - Sindhu in the same canary yellow and Marin in the same plum-coloured dress as in the Riocentro. A glitch in the matrix perhaps. And what then would you make of that first game. Marin dropping the final three points to lose 19-21, exactly the same scoreline as at the Olympic final.
But the similarities were only superficial and they ended there. Sindhu had the early lead in both games and the Spaniard was always chasing her. The contest was far more lopsided in the second.
Not long after the interval, Sindhu had opened up a 14-9 lead, a gap that Marin could never reduce to less than three points at any stage.
At her best, Marin's whirring left hand is impossible to match for feverish pace. She is also tricky to face owing to the unusual angles she creates. While neither player was operating at the same intensity as in Rio, Sindhu was able to read her game with confidence.
While she dominated the back court, she was also beating Marin to the net. Marin would concede the game even as she hit a smash into the net. It was one of several errors that punctuated her game on Sunday evening. Marin's temperamental game is such that she loses points in clusters. Sindhu needed to get out of the way when that happened. To simply stay consistent and wait for the mistakes to pile up. She did just that.
Both players had their coaches courtside for the match, with Pullela Gopichand making his first appearance in that position having relegated himself to the stands so far in the tournament.
He had little to do, pumping both fists as if to say "Say strong", only for Sindhu to return the briefest of glances: "Relax, I've got this."
Marin often looked to Fernando Rivas for advice. He himself was far more agitated. When he cupped his hands and tried to yell, his words were drowned out by the roar of a capacity crowd.
The wave of noise had little impact on the Indian. Indeed, there's nothing that seems to have thrown Sindhu off her stride this tournament.
An announcer has ineffectually and periodically called on spectators to switch off the flash on their mobile phones. "It will disturb the players," she had announced. Sindhu had been asked about it earlier as well. "Was there a problem? I didn't notice," she had replied quizzically.
It was a point she reiterated after the final. Sindhu was expected to be one of the favourites going into the India Open, a tournament that had thus far eluded her. The 21-year-old was hardly burdened by those expectations.
"I wasn't under any pressure either in this match or in the tournament," Sindhu would say as she clutched her winner's medal.
Sindhu has little time to rest on her win. She flew on Sunday night to Kuala Lumpur for the Malaysia Open, the second stop of a Superseries leg that will take her to Indonesia, Singapore and Australia before the shuttlers head to Glasgow for the World Championships.
She will go there riding a wave of confidence. She is expected to surge to a career-high No. 2 in the world rankings. There's little that appears to faze her.
Sindhu, though, must know that the season is only starting, and that nothing lasts in sport. Not even good days. Or even as might be throbbing in the back of Carolina Marin's mind - Olympic honeymoons.
Marin put a brave face on the fact that she has no titles since Rio. "The Olympics was the biggest goal. Superseries doesn't matter," she would say. Perhaps not, but for the moment, it is PV Sindhu who is wearing gold.