With rowing, Julia's had to be tough to win. Her latest triumph was August's World Cup in Amsterdam, where she shared gold with present sculls partner Sophie MacKenzie.
In the process, they smashed the race record Julia and Louise Ayling set in 2012; all of which is well documented on international and national sports pages, as is her rise up rowing's top ranks.
Our People's business is to burrow into the background of this hometown girl's growing-up years.
At only 23 the tunnel's not deep but Rotorua's at its core. Locally born, bred and educated, Julia stepped into her first skiff as a Girls' High newbie.
Factor in the dynasty she springs from; the Edward name's among Rotorua's most recognisable. Dad Harry is a lawyer, her mum's Sue; her four uncles are all high achievers.
Her sporty grandmother, the late Isla Edward, was her loudest cheerleader (Our People, September 2009).
At the risk of going all women's "mazaginey" on you here, Julia's one of those "whole package" people: Bubbly, trim as a rowing blade and pretty.
Sorry guys, there's a boyfriend: Web designer Armin Svobada. Unsurprisingly, they met through rowing, training together in 2011. "He's very sweet and smart," she says.
At 5, Julia's ambition was to be a ballerina. "To be honest I was more interested in the costumes, the reality was I was a bit too clumsy."
Her mum tells of the day her 8-year-old daughter "bounced" home from studying the Olympics at Otonga Primary, insisting she was going "one day".
"I said 'that's nice dear, what are you going to do?' She said she didn't know but would think of something."
That was the catalyst for sport to become an integral part of her being, 13 years on she was wearing the silver fern at London.
Before rowing she was on course to be an ace cross-country runner, had blitzed duathlons, played basketball and at Rotorua Intermediate was one of two girls in the 1st X1.
With such a medley of codes to choose from, exactly how did this rowing malarkey start?
"At Girls' High a couple of my friends were trying out rowing, they told me I should be a coxswain because I was small and chatty. I went down to the lakefront rowing club on a gorgeous Sunday morning and fell for it."
That was the summer of 2003, the following year she moved to double sculling with Kylie McFetridge, winning two Maadi Cup golds. This newspaper headlined the feat "Double reward for golden gir"', a telling portent of things to come.
From Girls' High she moved to Waikato University, taking papers in sport, leisure and business. The following year she switched to Massey, studying business extramurally.
"I wanted to keep my options open," she says.
Her studies continue.
Julia's first international regatta was in the dictatorship of Belarus in 2010.
"It was eerie, the signs were gibberish, five people can't stand on a corner and talk, Dad got told off for walking on the grass."
She and Lucy Strack scooped silver, an achievement that brought an "emerging talent" nomination for the Halberg Awards. Julia was overawed.
"I was interviewed on the red carpet, the Shorty Street stars were there, Richie McCaw sat at the next table, Nana [Isla] got hit on by an old Halberg winner, we had to drag her out, it was an amazing night."
Since Belarus the stamps in her passport are an atlas of world place names, Korea included, "the heat there was hideous to row in".
In verbal climactic contrast she describes her London Olympics selection the following year as "really really cool".
That she and Ayling finished down the course continues to bug her. "We'd lost our momentum, our natural combination, I feel if I went into it now it would be completely different, after the race Mahe [Drysdale] and Emma Twigg were very encouraging."
Rowing New Zealand's switched her partnering several times.
Only weeks out from this year's worlds she joined forces with Mackenzie.
"We clicked, we're the dark horses," she says.
When those dark horses crossed the finish line with a boat length to spare the pay-off was standing on the podium with New Zealand's national anthem playing.
"I have always been thinking 'I want that, I want that', it's a magical feeling and so exciting seeing Mum in front of me."
Sue's comment on her daughter's golden win says it all.
"I knew Julia would kill herself rather than let anyone pass her."
Her stamina's to be tested again next month in the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge. "I'm as determined about it as I was about the worlds," she says.
Then the 2016 Olympics are no longer a pipe dream. "Knowing we've won gold this year makes it realistic we could win at Rio too."
JULIA EDWARD
Born: Rotorua, 1991.
Education: Otonga Primary, Rotorua Intermediate, Girls' High, Waikato and Massey Universities.
Family: Parents Harry and Sue, brothers Chris and Jeremy.
Interests: Reading "Romcoms", movies, shopping, travel, cooking "I'm a passionate foodie".
On her Rotorua background: "I owe a lot of my success to Rotorua."
On life beyond rowing: "I want to keep my options open, perhaps somewhere in the sports business world."
Personal philosophy: "Do what makes you happy."
