Alicia Hoskin: Double Olympic gold medalist on the responsibility of success and healing her hometown - On The Up

2024 Double Olympic gold medallist Alicia Hoskin.

What’s it like to win an Olympic gold medal? And how does it change your life? In the second of a three-part series, Michael Burgess talks to kayaking hero Alicia Hoskin on grand achievements and the responsibility that comes with them, dealing with fame, inspiring her beloved Gisborne and the importance of doing the dishes.

When all the hype died down from the Paris Olympics and its aftermath, kayaker Alicia Hoskin was looking forward to doing the dishes. And sleeping in her own bed, doing the laundry and cooking a meal. And perhaps most of all, going paddling on Lake Pupuke again.

After all the races and the gold medals, the ceremonies and the celebrations, the school visits, the selfies and the speaking tours, going back to normal life was a bit of a jolt. But it was also just what she needed.

“The Olympics is this massive high and it’s the thing you’ve been preparing for years for,” Hoskin explains to the Herald. “It’s this moment where it all comes together, you’ve worked extremely hard, you’ve got your team there and then you achieve such an amazing result. And then you come back to reality and it’s not quite the same as when you left - in a cool way.

“People stop you in the supermarket to congratulate you and you’re going around feeling like the same person, but you’ve just come away with this amazing achievement for your country. So the landscape looks a little bit different.”

It was always going to be, given Hoskin’s spectacular success, ascending to the top of the podium twice in Paris. With the triumphs in the K4 500m and the K2 500m, Hoskin became just the eighth New Zealander – across more than a century of Olympic competition - to win two gold medals at a single Games. One is special enough, but two? That’s mind-bending. That’s partly why the 25-year-old craved a return to everyday life.

“There was so much hype around the Olympics and the medals and it was so exciting,” says Hoskin. “But when I got home I loved just doing the dishes, making my bed, feeling like a normal human again. It might not be things that people expect but it’s not all flashy and look, ‘This is who I am on TV’.”

But life has obviously changed, put into focus when Hoskin attended the Crossroads forum last November, a two-day conference run by High Performance Sport New Zealand to help athletes in resetting, refocusing and recharging at the end of an Olympic cycle, with speakers and workshops covering a vast spectrum of athlete life. So far, being an Olympic champion has been a joy, particularly the school visits, including plenty back in her hometown of Gisborne.

“I am such a proud Gizzy girl,” says Hoskin. “I love where I come from and it’s so connected to who I am. So going back there, I almost felt nervous because I put a lot of pressure on myself thinking, ‘I want to do Gisborne justice. I want people to be able to hold the medal, have that time they need for pictures or autographs’.”

(Left to right) Tara Vaughan, Olivia Brett, Alicia Hoskin and Dame Lisa Carrington celebrate gold in the women’s K4 500 at the Paris Olympics. Photo / Photosport

“But as my mother said, ‘Gisborne’s gone through a lot in the last couple of years and it’s still recovering from those things’. So, it didn’t matter that it was me. They just really got behind something they could be proud of.”

There have been other opportunities – public speaking, tours, commercial partnerships – and some tangible benefits, including a new vehicle. For the past seven years, Hoskin had driven a “rusty old thing”, a 1998 Toyota RAV which had more than 280,000 kilometres on the clock, as she racked up the miles pursuing her dreams at regattas around the country. But now she has a new Skoda Kamiq from sponsor Giltrap Group.

“It’s amazing,” laughs Hoskin. “It’s got all these buttons. It’s got music, a reversing camera, all these cool things. And it’s much more reliable.”

However, not everything has been straightforward. Hoskin is now a public figure, which has been an adjustment.

“You get these amazing results but it also has a responsibility that comes with them, or a responsibility that I feel to give back and to be a role model to the younger generation,” she says. “Just knowing that people are watching; watching you compete, how you act under pressure, the way that you interact with the kids, the way you present yourself.”

“So there’s a level of responsibility that I sometimes feel to do New Zealand proud and act in a way that Kiwis can be proud of. Sometimes that feels like a big [thing], which is something that I have to manage. Not many people can prep you for what it might feel like or what happens after that.”

Lisa Carrington and Alicia Hoskin with their second Olympic gold medal won together. Photo / Photosport

The Paris memories are vivid, with a special moment coming after the first victory – the K4 500m alongside Dame Lisa Carrington, Olivia Brett and Tara Vaughan - just before Hoskin went to sleep.

“It was interesting, just lying there, with the medal on my bedside table,” says Hoskin. “And I’m thinking, did that actually just happen? Did that day just play out in my dreams or was it real?”

If she does need reminders, she’ll sit down to look at replays of the racing, though not too often.

“Every time I watch it with my dad or my partner Elliot, they both end up in tears,” laughs Hoskin. “They’re absolute shockers. So we can’t play it too often because I’m going to run out of tissues! But yeah, it’s so cool to have it all documented because I can still remember every single stroke.”

Despite the achievement – and the sense that life will never be the same again - returning to training and competition hasn’t been an issue.

“Paddling keeps you balanced and grounded,” said Hoskin. “It’s the normal thing for us.”

The only not-so-normal thing is the precious metal, that she still hasn’t found a home for.

“I always ask people, where do I keep this kind of thing,” says Hoskin. “I can’t frame them because I need to be able to take them to school visits or different events. Sometimes they end up in the sock drawer, sometimes in a little box under the bed. I’m not sure what you’re supposed to do with them, but often they are sort of following me around. They’re everywhere.”

Michael Burgess has been a Sports Journalist for the New Zealand Herald since 2005, covering the Olympics, Fifa World Cups, and America’s Cup campaigns. He is a co-host of the Big League podcast.