Monday, August 18, 2008 - 6:51 PM

Australia's Olympic triathlon champion Emma Snowsill says she poured her "heart and soul" into the sport after being struck by tragedy early in her career.

Snowsill was just 19 when her boyfriend and fellow triathlete Luke Harrop was killed in a hit-and-run accident while bike training on Queensland's Gold Coast.

Several years later, and wearing Australia's first triathlon gold medal in Beijing, Snowsill said the loss had made her realise how lucky she was just to be alive and competing.

"Lessons learned through life are there not necessarily for good or bad reasons, you just have to take them as they are and move on," she reflected.

"I think triathlon is a passion. I've really put my heart and soul into it and every ounce of energy, so I'm very lucky to be able to do that and to be here."

More shocks were to come for Snowsill, who missed Australia's 2004 Olympic team despite winning the first of three world titles a year earlier.

Last year she was staggered to be diagnosed with asthma, raising concerns about her ability to compete in Beijing's notorious smog.

"Everybody has a personal story. I think everybody deals with it in different ways," she said.

"Definitely I can only look forward to tomorrow. You can't change the past, you can only take control of the moment now and the foreseeable future."

The 27-year-old Commonwealth champion ran a blistering road race in clear but hot conditions to seal the title by more than a minute from Vanessa Fernandes of Portugal.

Snowsill's father Garry praised his daughter's hard work, and said she had to make big sacrifices to win gold.

"It's her life, she trains six hours a day, six days a week minimum," he said.

"And you can get a pretty good idea by just looking at her web site, because it shows some of her training programs. She sacrifices a lot."