For two decades, the ice has belonged to Hilary Knight. Her name has been synonymous with American women’s hockey over the course of five Olympic tournaments, as dominant as ever at 36 years old and getting ready for the Winter Olympics. Yet, on the cusp of becoming the first U.S. hockey player to compete in five Olympics, Knight has announced that this final pursuit of gold will be her last.

“Everyone has an expiration date and you don’t know what that date is,” Knight reflected, as reported by ESPN. “To have an opportunity to control that? I can kind of just appreciate things.”

It wasn’t an easy decision for an athlete whose life has been set up in four-year Olympic cycles since she was a teenager to break that pattern. “People don’t have to keep asking, ‘Is this your last one?’ I’ve already thought through the conversations, I’ve already sat with it,” she said. “I’m really at peace.” Her gratitude is directed not just at the career she has had, but at the rare privilege of concluding it on her own terms. But this came with a lot of acceptance.

Her agent was the first to bring up the hard topic of her future, which Knight found shocking at first. “I was kind of taken aback,” she recalled. But after months of thinking about it, she finally got to a point where she could completely enjoy the last chapter.

There are more things that make up her career than medals, and the close to her weren’t surprised when she said this would be her last Winter Olympics.

Reflecting on Hilary Knight’s final Winter Olympics

Cammi Granato, a Hall of Famer and Hilary Knight’s childhood idol, observes how this moment has come full circle. Granato remarked, “I’m so happy she gets the chance to call her own legacy. It’s incredible to see her play in her 5th Olympics. She leads that team with all of her experience. And when you know it’s your probably her last one, she will leave it all out the ice. She understands how to win. For any athlete to be able to go out on their own terms is such a rare thing, and speaks to her dedication to the game and her ability to always score in the biggest moments.”

Teammates past and present see a player ready to leave everything on the ice. Meghan Duggan, a Hall of Famer and lifelong teammate, talks about Knight’s unwavering determination and how she always made the most of her limited resources to be at the top of her game.

“She works hard at her craft, she’s dedicated her life to it. And she just continues to show up again and again,” she said. For younger players like Tessa Janecke, who looked up to Knight as a youngster, her presence is both inspiring and a reminder of the hard effort that went into making the sport they love. “She essentially put women’s hockey on her back throughout her career,” Janecke said.

As Knight skates toward her last Winter Olympics, she does it with the serene assurance of an athlete who has nothing left to prove but everything she loves to play for.