Lisa Carrington and Alicia Hoskin with their second gold medal won together. Hoskin joins Gisborne kayaker Alan Thompson (1984 Los Angeles Olympics) as a double gold medallist. Photo / Photosport
Lisa Carrington and Alicia Hoskin with their second gold medal won together. Hoskin joins Gisborne kayaker Alan Thompson (1984 Los Angeles Olympics) as a double gold medallist. Photo / Photosport
Olympic champions never forget where they come from.
Alicia Hoskin joined an elite list of double gold medallists with her canoe sprint K2 500 women’s victory alongside the GOAT - Dame Lisa Carrington - at the Paris Olympics, and in her victory afterglow, she acknowledged home.
“This medal is definitely not just for me,” the eloquent 24-year-old said. “This is for all of Gizzy.”
And it would be fair to say much of Gisborne was watching as the former Poverty Bay Kayak Club member and New Zealand’s greatest Olympic champion obliterated the field in the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.
The pair led all the way - “so rapido” the TV commentator said shortly after they rocketed off the start - and by the halfway mark it was not a case of if they would win gold, but by how much.
It gave the omnipotent Carrington a seventh Olympic gold, which became eight in the K1 500, while Hoskin emulated the 1984 double gold medal-winning efforts of Gisborne’s Alan Thompson at the Los Angeles Olympics - a feat she could surpass when LA hosts the 2028 Games.
Dame Lisa Carrington and Alicia Hoskin celebrate gold in the K2 500m final at the Paris Olympics. They were more than two seconds ahead of the silver medallists. Photo / Photosport
Following the final, Hoskin and Carrington hugged on the pontoon and the sight of Carrington with her hand on the shoulder of Hoskin as she sang the national anthem at the medal ceremony spoke much of their bond.
Hoskin later talked of home, the pride of producing such a performance and her respect for “Lise”.
“I love putting a race together that we are really proud of and just showing our prep, our work our coaches have done with us, our support teams... just really proud and just loving it.
“I was just so locked in on Lise... we were paddling our own race out there. I didn’t actually realise where the others were. We knew it was an extremely high-quality field, we have a lot of respect for those girls... we stuck to our race plan, trusted each other and had a really good time.”
Hoskin’s respect for Carrington (of Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki and Ngāti Porou descent through her father Pat) is mutual.
“Alicia’s been great,” Carrington said. “We have just been focusing on how much we love the paddling, doing the job... enjoy it while we are doing it... it’s been a real privilege doing it with her.”
Despite looking as fresh as the proverbial daisy, Hoskin admitted her body “was hurting”, adding “but man what a race - it was very cool”.
“This medal is definitely not just for me. This is for all of Gizzy, all of my family, all my friends, all of Aotearoa, really.
“It really does take a village, especially for a small country. We’ve got to really be smart with the resources we have. We draw a lot of strength from the people supporting us so, yeah, I’m really excited to head back home and share the love. Share the Olympic sprint back home.”
