"This is for bringing home the golden egg," he said.
The fledgling tears were quickly replaced by a radiant smile as a small crowd of mainly family welcomed home the new world champion.
The 26-year-old won a gold medal in the women's 3000m individual pursuit at the world track cycling championships in Poland last month.
She backed this up the next day by helping to win a silver medal in the women's teams pursuit.
"It's great to finally be back home and to show them the rainbow jersey," she said.
"They've been waiting a couple of weeks now to see it."
Shanks slept in her rainbow jersey the night she was crowned world champion and proudly showed off the prized garment to pupils of her former school, Queens High School, who were at the airport to greet her.
"I guess it is starting to sink in. It is a prestigious title . . . and it is something I think the New Zealand public probably don't appreciate as much as the Europeans.
"I'm looking forward to being able to educate the New Zealand public a little bit more about what the rainbow rings actually represent."
Shanks plans to take a break from cycling for "at least a month".
"Looking at the bigger picture, it is a good opportunity now to have a break and really refresh the mind and the body before kicking back into the next phase."
After her break, she plans to travel to the United States and do some road racing and training in preparation for the road time trial championships in Switzerland in September, and the world track series which gets under way in England in November.
Shanks said she got overwhelming support from home and had 130 emails the morning after her gold medal ride.
"The support was absolutely amazing, considering you are all the way over in Poland."
