Cycling: A people's champion

Hamish Carter is in a restaurant with his family when he stops playing with his two young children because he's conscious of people watching him. He's not sure what to do: should he continue playing the fool, ignore it, acknowledge it or pretend he didn't see it?

It's a common scenario for one of the most recognisable faces in New Zealand sport. The 33-year-old draws stares and cheers virtually everywhere he goes these days after his nation-stopping win in the triathlon at Athens.

While he's generally comfortable in the public eye, he freely admits life has changed considerably since that golden day in Greece.

"I think John Walker put it really well when he said that the hardest thing to get used to is people looking at you like a ghost," Carter explains as another pedestrian smiles at the Olympic champion sitting at a street-side cafe on Ponsonby Road. "It's really weird but that's what it's like."

That reality has seen him take on a persona and duties akin to royalty. Along with cyclist Sarah Ulmer, the pair were acknowledged in the New Year's honours list (along with rowers Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell, they were made members of the New Zealand Order of Merit), they have been guests of honour at A&P shows, banquets, schools and corporate functions and graced our TV screens in television commercials.

Far from resenting or shying away from the public eye, Carter has found it immensely rewarding and even enjoyable.

"The good thing about that stuff, particularly talking to kids or corporates, is that it's really neat to share your experiences and inspire other people," he explains with his usual enthusiasm. "I'm privileged to be able to get up in front of people and say I'm no different to you. I just won a race, so what?"

This recognition, and the obvious financial rewards, is part of the reason why Carter has had few thoughts about hanging up the goggles, bike and running shoes. He talks about a new lease of life and that motivation to succeed is not something he struggles with.

"Lance Armstrong said it really well," Carter said, borrowing more thoughts from a top athlete. "One day in the Tour de France he had a bad stage and got dropped from the bunch. He said he didn't do the yellow jersey justice and for me I feel like when I go to race as Olympic champion I want to race and do that justice. That's really motivating.

"It hasn't crossed my mind yet [to pack it all in]. I've worked incredibly hard to get to this point and still want to race so I don't want to walk away from it yet. It's not far away and I guess when a job comes along, that's when I might stop. But there hasn't been any jobs yet - although I'm not really looking."

His sights are actually on a triathlon with a difference - Rotorua's Xterra on April 16, which is made up of a 1km swim, 30km mountain-bike ride and an 11km run. It will be his first race since the Olympics and two weeks later he'll line up for his first World Cup event in Mooloolaba, Australia. Much like last year, when he competed in only one World Cup event, he will pick and choose his races, preferring to focus on big events - in this case, the world championships in Japan in September.

As well as a world title up for grabs, the world champs also double as the race from which the New Zealand team will be selected for next year's Commonwealth Games. Assuming he can overcome the first hurdle, and Carter admits it's a big one with a whole swagger of top triathletes in this country, the Melbourne race could be his last. "Melbourne is definitely on the cards and it could be my last race," he says rather reflectively. "After that, I don't know. Sydney [Olympics] in 2000 could've been the end because I thought I could win in Sydney but I had a shocker."

That "shocker", when he finished well down the field in 26th having gone into the race as favourite for gold, is something Carter still reflects on. Rather than shying away from the pain of that race, it's something he credits as driving him to success in Athens.

"It was the worst thing that could have happened but it was important as I learned more about myself as an athlete," he said. Because of this, he has an inherent fear of failure which pushes him to train in a way that belies the fact he's been putting his body through it at the top level for the past decade.

One day last week he trudged home because he was too tired to keep pounding the streets but it didn't stop him rising early the next day to do it all again.

There is another, more pleasant memory he draws on when things get tough. "I think back to Athens, especially when I'm training and really tired and say, 'man, that 10 years of grafting was worth it'. When I'm introduced at functions as Olympic champion I still stop and go, 'that's not me'. It takes so long to sink in. It's so big it's crazy."

As he poses for photographs, a bunch of schoolgirls walk by, smile at Carter and wave. They yell out that they've been at netball trials and the ease with which he chats back would be the envy of hundreds of professional sportspeople throughout the country.

Like Ulmer, he's the people's champion and no one would begrudge him the rewards that he's accumulated since Athens. But people will also continue to stare at him when he's with his family at a restaurant. He says it's OK, and they're even allowed to say hello because, as he points out, "I'm just a person who won a race".