New Zealand's Emma Twigg holds her silver medal after the Olympic women's single sculls final at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium. | Sarah Phipps-USA TODAY Sports

At her fifth and final Olympic Games, Emma Twigg had a silver medal to show for her outstanding efforts on the lake at Vaires-sur-Marne, along with the love of wife Charlotte and son Tommy.

The 37-year-old’s single sculls times improved in every round through the heats, quarterfinals and semifinals, setting her up for a Saturday showdown against Karolien Florijn of the Netherlands.

This was more than worthy of the regatta’s final day of blue-riband events — Twigg, the gold medal winner from Tokyo three years ago, against reigning world champion Florijn.

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The Dutchwoman had the edge until Twigg came storming back into title contention in the middle section of the race.

That set up a thrilling 500m chase to the line — and Florijn held strong to cross first.

“I can be proud that I emptied the tank and a silver medal is phenomenal,” Twigg told RNZ afterwards.

She was just 21 at her first Olympics in Beijing, where she finished ninth overall. At London 2012, she was fourth. Agonizingly, it was the same story again at Rio 2016 and she decided afterwards to retire from rowing.

Twigg had been living in Switzerland and working for the International Olympic Committee when she was introduced in summer 2018 to cricketer Charlotte Mizzi by a mutual friend, and they began dating.

By now, she had moved back to her homeland and had decided to get back on the water, resuming serious training.

In February 2019, Twigg reclaimed her national titles and announced her engagement to Charlotte, coming out publicly as gay in the process. They were married at the start of 2020.

Before her success in Tokyo, Twigg told Outsports’ Cyd Zeigler on an episode his ‘Five Rings to Rule Them All’ podcast: “Being married, it’s an opportunity now to show New Zealand, the world, that this is my wife and we’re very happy and we love each other and we’re going to have a family and do all sorts of wonderful things.

“It doesn’t change anything in our lives. If anything, it adds a huge amount of happiness for both of us and our families. It’s a great example for anyone out there struggling with who they are.”

Tommy arrived in April 2022. He was in attendance with Charlotte on Saturday but not surprisingly, he wasn’t particularly interested in trying to watch his mum on the water.

“Yeah, he did not give a shit [about the race],” Twigg added to RNZ. “He looked really confused that I was down there and he couldn’t see me.

“I haven’t seen him all week so I’m really looking forward to a cuddle.

“Hopefully one day he will be able to look back and put on mama’s medals and be really proud of what I’ve done and hopefully he feels like he can chase his dreams as well.”