00:00:05
Finn butcher welcome to my podcast thank
00:00:08
you thanks for having me nickname's the
00:00:11
butcher that's an obvious one um another
00:00:13
nickname is fun is that um is that a
00:00:15
nickname that Australians gave you based
00:00:17
on your accent or yeah it actually is
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yeah yeah not many people I mean no one
00:00:22
really calls me that but yeah I think
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yeah that's probably from the Aussies I
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thought it's got to be an accent based
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one or or you you are just like um a
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loose guy and love to have fun a I hope
00:00:34
so yeah I mean yeah like what we do is
00:00:37
pretty fun so I like to think that we
00:00:40
yeah that's what I'm about but yeah I
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don't know that was that one was
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definitely an accent thing hey so we're
00:00:45
recording this in um Mid October 2024
00:00:48
how long how long has it been since you
00:00:50
won um this bad boy the gold medal at
00:00:52
the Paris has it been two months uh yeah
00:00:55
fth of August right like 10 weeks 10
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weeks ago how how how does it feel now
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you you you carried it in here today for
00:01:02
like a show and T um yeah I mean when
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you when you look at the middle does it
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yeah what do you feel uh it's still
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pretty surreal um but epic and yeah I've
00:01:15
got a heck of a lot of good memories
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from from the whole games and then also
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obviously getting that thing was pretty
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special so um but yeah it's been busy
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and and yeah pretty tiring I had a good
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crash last week week I think all the the
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last couple months of adrenaline running
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on adrenaline has just just all caught
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up to me and when I finally got back to
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New Zealand and didn't have anything
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else on um yeah just parked up in bed
00:01:42
for a week just buggered but yeah I mean
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it's um it's pretty special and um
00:01:48
sharing it with people is the coolest
00:01:50
coolest part and like when little kids I
00:01:53
can show kids or or anyone who's been
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part of it or um stucked on it it's it's
00:01:58
pretty cool yeah yeah and it's something
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you you have for life not just the um
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not just the actual medal but you know
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just the the title of Olympic gold
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medalist something that that can never
00:02:09
be taken away from you which is really
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special yeah yeah it's actually crazy
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even to like hear someone say that still
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like like I believe it I know I know it
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happened I've got this thing to prove it
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but yeah like just thinking about all
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the years and um all the dreams as a kid
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just actually coming true it's just
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crazy yeah yeah there's so much to um to
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unpack and drill down on and and talk
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about
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including the strange thing for me is so
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you're 29 years old and you've gone from
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being um very well known in uh a niche
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circle of kaying um to being like like
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proper famous like household household
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name famous has that adjustment been how
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have you cope with that yeah
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um weird it's been real weird yeah real
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weird but quite quite cool at the same
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time like um even the last few days like
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I've only been back in the country week
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and a half um but just been back in
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Oakland for a couple days and um even
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down at the mount um with my girlfriend
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like almost every day there's someone
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who recognizes me in the shop or um and
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wants a photo or just to say hello and
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and congrats or something and like last
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night I was at the Woolworth down in
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town and yeah someone was like oh my God
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fizzing and it's just so strange for me
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to think about like 6 months ago that
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like I'd be in that same warw worths and
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no one would even know who you are my
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girlfriend was like Courtney was like oh
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yeah you you've got to start dressing a
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bit nicer you can't be you can't be all
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scruffy walking around cuz people know
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who you are what were you wearing oh
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nothing like just
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like clothes bit faded or whatever and
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like i' actually I splashed out on a new
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pair of shoes cuz my um the only pretty
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much the only per sneakers I had were um
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just like a standing per like Rebox or
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whatever and um I wore them to all the
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parties in Paris and they just got
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absolutely destroyed and I've been
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wearing them like since then up until a
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couple days ago when I got a new paer
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and um like when I came back out
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straight after the games I wore them on
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um breakfast TV I was like a surely
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it'll just be like a a waste up sort of
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thing and then they did a wide panning
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shot and I've just got this scruffy has
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destroyed shoes on so she was like you
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need to tidy yourself up we're going to
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have to look out for that footage and
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turn this into a realist what what brand
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are they oh just like white reok they
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weren't very white anymore but they I
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had a few rips in them and stuff oh they
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got some good stories to tell yeah they
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do they do for sure is that what you
00:04:46
were wearing those shoes when you met um
00:04:49
Steven Adams uh yes I think so yeah yeah
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yeah they would have been hard to see
00:04:57
from how tall he is yeah right yeah that
00:05:00
how yeah so you went to an All Blacks
00:05:01
game and I suppose like the um the
00:05:03
Olympic gold medal opens a lot of doors
00:05:04
and provides a lot of opportunities like
00:05:06
that so you were um just rubbing
00:05:08
shoulders with the All Blacks and Steven
00:05:10
Adams Jason Jason Mamo did you meet him
00:05:12
yeah yeah Joseph Parker was there as
00:05:13
well yeah conversations with those guys
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or uh yeah brief ones yeah um pretty
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cool man like oh they just they're just
00:05:21
cool guys and like just normal people
00:05:25
and um love Yan and um yeah Lov watching
00:05:28
the footy so
00:05:30
it was yeah it was prettyy crazy and
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then like at half time they like oh do
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you want to go down to the down to the
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sheds after the game I was like what you
00:05:39
serious yeah of course stuff like that
00:05:42
it's just yeah it was mindblowing and um
00:05:44
it's actually funny like me and my coach
00:05:47
we it's probably I confusing story but
00:05:50
we like I'm quite into mountain biking
00:05:53
and like obviously stay away from it
00:05:54
most of the time cuz I don't want to
00:05:56
myself but um I watch a lot of you know
00:05:59
the the YouTube videos or whatever and
00:06:02
there's a guy Eddie Masters a kiwi guy
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and he makes videos and he's got this
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thing at the start of his his videos
00:06:08
where he uh like hijacked the mic on a
00:06:11
um on a live news cross and he was like
00:06:14
and basically he's like this is going to
00:06:15
be crazy and like me and my coach were
00:06:18
sending it we're like watching it and
00:06:19
saying it to each other like all through
00:06:21
the games and I said it like to them
00:06:23
right before the final of the kite cross
00:06:25
and I like yeah and then like at the
00:06:29
like few times before I was I told you
00:06:31
it was going to be crazy and like and I
00:06:33
at the all black game we like look at
00:06:35
each other and I like what the [ __ ] like
00:06:37
it's crazy it is it is crazy it's so
00:06:40
cool and it could couldn't happen to a
00:06:41
nicer guy um all right let's um start
00:06:45
with unpacking the Olympics and then
00:06:47
we'll um we'll go back to the uh the you
00:06:49
know the early days and the 29 years
00:06:50
that took you to get here so um yeah so
00:06:54
what were the expectations going to the
00:06:55
Olympics you shouldn't have won right um
00:06:58
uh like I knew that I could win um for
00:07:02
sure um so in the kite cross anyway I
00:07:05
was I'd been second at the world Champs
00:07:08
in
00:07:09
2021 um and also like had a few World
00:07:13
Cup medals so you know it's all the same
00:07:15
people that erase the games um and I was
00:07:19
ranked maybe ninth I think but um yeah
00:07:24
had had some good results in the first
00:07:25
World Cup of the year um I was third and
00:07:29
like definitely could have been in a
00:07:31
position to win that kite cross is
00:07:33
[ __ ] crazy so you never know um but
00:07:36
yeah like we knew that I'll be in for a
00:07:38
shot um for a middle and um there's
00:07:41
probably some some favorites above me
00:07:43
but you know we knew that if things went
00:07:46
my way and that I could be I could be
00:07:49
there for it and and the stylum as well
00:07:51
like um i' same like first World Cup I
00:07:55
was sick in um this year and so we knew
00:07:57
that the same sort of thing like if I
00:07:59
can put down my performance then yeah
00:08:02
definitely I could be standing on the
00:08:03
box but um you know it's all it's all
00:08:07
just words until it actually happens so
00:08:11
yeah so so best case scenario is
00:08:12
obviously what happened um for you what
00:08:15
would have been like like your entry
00:08:16
level entry level scenario like what
00:08:19
would would you have been happy to make
00:08:20
the finals and not middle would that
00:08:22
have still been a success uh like yeah I
00:08:26
mean It's tricky to say because you know
00:08:29
if you make the final and don't middle
00:08:31
that means you're fourth and there's
00:08:33
only four in the final so it's like if
00:08:36
you don't get a middle it's pretty
00:08:37
Savage um and so I mean like I
00:08:42
think the top eight so the semi-finals
00:08:45
at sort of any race is kind of
00:08:49
where all the real favorites start
00:08:53
coming together and so if you can be
00:08:56
consistently in that top eight then you
00:08:58
anything can happen from there you know
00:09:00
like then the race is just it's on
00:09:03
um so I think I would have been
00:09:05
disappointed if I wasn't in the
00:09:07
semi-final um but then yeah to be able
00:09:10
to I think the way that
00:09:12
the um like the draw worked out too then
00:09:16
there was like some kind of lower seeds
00:09:18
that were coming up through the the
00:09:21
rounds for whatever reason like the high
00:09:24
seeds made mistakes in the earlier runs
00:09:25
so then actually like going from the
00:09:29
semi-final the final was probably like a
00:09:32
little easier than it would be at like a
00:09:34
World Cup say um yeah just the nature of
00:09:38
the Olympics so yeah I mean it's good
00:09:41
not to have to think about if it would
00:09:42
would have been a failure I mean I
00:09:44
enjoyed the whole thing and I think that
00:09:46
was the main thing that we wanted to do
00:09:48
I actually listened to um a podcast with
00:09:51
Lisa Carrington the other day um and she
00:09:56
was saying like real similar things to
00:09:58
to how we wanted to approach the games
00:10:01
and um you know she's an absolute weapon
00:10:04
and but yeah like sitting on the start
00:10:07
line I was like yeah I've like loved
00:10:09
this whole experience and the whole
00:10:12
process and I think that was the success
00:10:15
and then you know the outcome would be
00:10:18
what it was and it was pretty good so
00:10:21
yeah I mean yeah you did and you looked
00:10:23
so relaxed at the start of the start of
00:10:25
the final and um the commentators
00:10:27
there's a line they say they say uh you
00:10:29
can never count this man out yeah which
00:10:30
to me says you know you weren't the red
00:10:32
hot favorite and there was um a guy Joe
00:10:34
Clark the three time world champ so he
00:10:36
got the silver mle yep so that he would
00:10:39
have been disappointed yeah I think yeah
00:10:41
I think he was um pretty disappointed
00:10:43
like yeah as you say like he's probably
00:10:45
the one to beat um
00:10:49
he's probably what worked for me at the
00:10:53
games would have been his like bread and
00:10:55
butter well not bread and butter but
00:10:57
that's like his strength as the start
00:11:00
he's super powerful and um getting off
00:11:02
the start first is like that's his goto
00:11:05
and um that's what I did really well and
00:11:08
in the final he didn't get off the start
00:11:10
well and he ended up just bumping with
00:11:12
the German for a half a second and then
00:11:14
I was away laughing and um not that I
00:11:17
was laughing but you
00:11:19
know yeah I mean there's no one in front
00:11:22
of you so you know you're in the lead
00:11:23
and you're not you're not fighting with
00:11:24
the I know like I I'm probably going to
00:11:26
say some dumb stuff cuz I know
00:11:27
absolutely nothing nothing about your
00:11:28
sport
00:11:30
um but it's an incredible race to watch
00:11:33
like legitimately like if I was if I was
00:11:36
there with you if I was the fifth the
00:11:37
fifth kayak I I'd still be at the top of
00:11:40
the start two two chicken [ __ ] to go
00:11:42
down that start looks terrifying they
00:11:44
drop is it is it for someone that's
00:11:46
never done it before is it is it um just
00:11:48
impossibly difficult to imagine how
00:11:50
scary it is
00:11:52
um yeah probably would it snap me in a
00:11:55
half um no you'd be right you'd be right
00:11:58
that one anyway anyway you'd be all
00:11:59
right the one in Paris it's quite high
00:12:02
but cuz the ramp is quite long it it
00:12:05
actually slides you in like basically if
00:12:07
you did nothing You' like skim out um
00:12:10
you know you'd land kind of flat and
00:12:12
you'd go but then You' probably fall out
00:12:14
after that but um but it's pretty scary
00:12:16
because when you're sitting up there
00:12:18
you're you're horizontal right and you
00:12:20
can't see the water so or you can see
00:12:23
just like the crowd in front of you and
00:12:25
then you just feel like you're floating
00:12:27
on top of a bridge but then once it
00:12:29
drops it's actually all good cuz you you
00:12:31
can see the ramp and then see where
00:12:32
you're going to go but the one we've got
00:12:34
in Oakland's terrifying cuz there's no
00:12:37
the one out in the one out in Southland
00:12:39
yeah so the ramp we have because like
00:12:42
the one at the games has like a gate in
00:12:44
front of you so it kind of feels like
00:12:46
you're a little bit safe like you've got
00:12:47
something in front of you to stop you
00:12:49
sliding off one and all in Monaco
00:12:51
there's nothing in front of you so
00:12:53
you're just like floating and there's
00:12:54
you can't see anything below you and
00:12:56
you're just looking out to like Horizon
00:12:58
you're I don't know 5 in the or
00:12:59
something but it's pretty sick it's such
00:13:01
a good feeling when you slide off it um
00:13:04
like it's just instant speed so it's
00:13:07
cool yeah it's it's incredible and how
00:13:09
long does it go for like a minute and a
00:13:11
half yeah yeah I think the time trials
00:13:14
were around about 60 seconds yeah it's
00:13:17
over so Qui the same but there's so much
00:13:19
that goes on in there and another thing
00:13:21
I found intriguing like watching the um
00:13:23
the you the buildup to the start is um
00:13:26
yeah as you mentioned before four people
00:13:28
in the final
00:13:29
just when the camera focuses on everyone
00:13:31
like the German guy next to you who by
00:13:33
the way I think is the the happiest
00:13:34
bronze medalist ever in the history of
00:13:37
the world yeah um he looked uh I was
00:13:40
going to say he looked terrified I
00:13:42
suppose it was just his like pre-race
00:13:44
thing like he could you hear what he was
00:13:45
saying I don't know it was in German but
00:13:48
yeah like so he was talking to himself
00:13:49
obviously running through what he Joe
00:13:51
cuz Joe and I had talked about it we
00:13:53
talked about it after the race and we
00:13:54
were like I think it was at the party
00:13:55
maybe and we were all talking to each
00:13:57
other and we Joe was like what are you
00:13:59
what are you on about on the ramp man
00:14:00
like what are you doing because what
00:14:02
were you doing like the guy I um so his
00:14:04
name's Noah oh yeah and like he was I
00:14:07
don't know what he was doing he was kind
00:14:08
of moving around and saying all this
00:14:10
stuff to himself and he had his eyes
00:14:12
closed and all sorts of jazz and I was
00:14:14
just sitting there like this guy's like
00:14:16
tripping out what's going on you CU I I
00:14:19
saw him I thought oh this guy looks
00:14:21
looks petrified out of his depth but um
00:14:23
but then he like he had a had a great
00:14:24
run had a great result so it obviously
00:14:27
works for him um you just look so chill
00:14:30
you look so happy to be there yeah I was
00:14:32
like I mean yeah like I I guess like I
00:14:34
said earlier like it's I was just so
00:14:38
happy with being there and enjoying all
00:14:41
of it and um to be in the Olympic final
00:14:45
and just steering out like basically all
00:14:47
in front of us was just the grand stand
00:14:50
was just epic and um yeah I think you
00:14:54
know like I let myself have enjoy that
00:14:57
and then you know you know as soon as
00:14:59
they were' get in position it was like
00:15:02
it's on now and kind of game face on but
00:15:06
yeah it was it was sick and like I yeah
00:15:09
never forget being up there because it
00:15:10
was such a good feeling yeah I suppose
00:15:13
yeah I mean everyone's different so some
00:15:14
people obviously need to need to get
00:15:16
themselves in that zone earlier but you
00:15:18
you must have the ability just to flick
00:15:20
into game face mode in a couple of
00:15:22
seconds yeah um yeah I guess so um yeah
00:15:26
I think different people prepare and in
00:15:29
different ways and um oh mate Noah
00:15:32
beside me obviously needed a little bit
00:15:34
different than I what I needed but yeah
00:15:37
I think um yeah I was just so ready to
00:15:41
go already and um there's a lot of
00:15:43
sitting around beforehand like you've
00:15:45
got to be at the pre-art um sort of 10
00:15:47
minutes before you run and they weigh
00:15:49
your boat and you choose your lanes and
00:15:52
all that jazz so there's a there's quite
00:15:53
a lot of like time you can spend to
00:15:57
prepare and uh and do what you need to
00:15:59
do but yeah I think I don't know what
00:16:02
happened to me when we go up on that
00:16:04
start but I was just stoked and then as
00:16:06
soon as uh we the start procedure kind
00:16:09
of kind of came I was like just into it
00:16:11
just like autopilot yeah and then I just
00:16:13
wanted to like I was just focusing
00:16:16
really hard on the the gate in front um
00:16:19
like the the wall kind of thing that's
00:16:21
stopping us um and just yeah I just
00:16:24
wanted to hit the start with as much
00:16:27
intensity as I could and and try to get
00:16:29
the first few strokes and see what
00:16:31
happens after that cuz like all you can
00:16:33
do is as soon as the the beep goes it
00:16:36
starts to drop and so what I was doing
00:16:38
is when the beep goes I was throwing
00:16:40
myself from the back of my boat to the
00:16:43
front to start the slide a bit earlier
00:16:46
than someone else um and that seemed to
00:16:48
be working quite well and then yeah
00:16:50
trying to trying to land with the right
00:16:52
angle so then I skip as fast as possible
00:16:55
and then get the first few Strokes in um
00:16:57
with this as much as
00:16:59
intensity as possible and um like if I
00:17:02
could do that then you know whatever
00:17:05
happens happens if someone else is
00:17:07
faster than me off that and so be it but
00:17:10
yeah um luckily well not luckily it's
00:17:14
what happened but um Joe was on the far
00:17:17
on my far right so viewers left um and
00:17:21
then Noah was in between us and uh those
00:17:24
two basically when they landed they like
00:17:26
went towards each other so then you know
00:17:29
their first one or two strokes is a bit
00:17:31
compromised and luckily I was just kind
00:17:33
of in free free water I suppose and the
00:17:36
guy to my left who was actually a a
00:17:38
canoe pedler so C1 so in slum he's
00:17:43
traditionally only uses one blade um and
00:17:47
he had been doing K cross a little bit
00:17:49
but yeah not heaps and um kind of
00:17:52
managed to get through to the final just
00:17:54
by taking advantage of different
00:17:56
situations that happen in front of him
00:17:57
and you know like that half the game and
00:17:59
kite cross is um you know reacting to
00:18:03
what happens and and so he was actually
00:18:05
he's probably uh he's quite low ranked
00:18:09
or high yeah low ranked I guess high
00:18:11
high world ranking um and he was a bit
00:18:15
slower off the ramp so luckily I had
00:18:17
clear clear water to my right and to my
00:18:19
left but actually when I watched a
00:18:21
replay I did a right stroke to start and
00:18:23
then a left one and the left one as I
00:18:26
was pulling it out came up underneath
00:18:28
his bow cuz he was slow off the ramp so
00:18:30
he's a bit behind me and then I let go
00:18:32
of my pedal with that left side did a
00:18:35
right stroke and then caught the LIF
00:18:36
again and then did the lift so I never
00:18:38
even realized until I watched the replay
00:18:41
and I was just like cuz I I just all I
00:18:44
wanted to do was just be as fast as
00:18:45
possible so I didn't even like think
00:18:47
about it that I let let go my pedal it
00:18:49
was just yeah it's crazy to see like in
00:18:51
slow motion so you could you could have
00:18:53
lost your pedal or how major is this I
00:18:56
only had like one hand on it yeah um so
00:19:00
luckily like yeah I guess luckily I just
00:19:03
grabbed it again and it was just like I
00:19:05
don't know muscle memory just to get it
00:19:07
back I don't know I was going to ask you
00:19:09
if it was um if it was the perfect race
00:19:10
but I guess it wasn't there's little
00:19:12
incremental things you could have done
00:19:14
yeah I mean like nothing's ever perfect
00:19:16
in our sport which I think is what keeps
00:19:19
you keeps you coming back but um yeah
00:19:22
there's a few things like after the
00:19:23
first Upstream obviously I was leading
00:19:25
I've got quite a fast rle which is good
00:19:28
um means I can make a little bit of Gap
00:19:31
in that and then that's where you roll
00:19:32
so you go under the water under the yeah
00:19:34
sort of limbo bar um you've got to go
00:19:37
upside down to a full 360 back up the
00:19:39
other side so mine's quite quick and
00:19:42
then um yeah the gate I was choosing the
00:19:45
Upstream on the right so you get to pick
00:19:47
which side you go um the exit of that
00:19:50
was kind of slow because it was real
00:19:51
slow like through real slow water and so
00:19:54
I was still in the front but then um all
00:19:57
through the next section which was just
00:19:58
down streams all down the middle of the
00:20:00
the flow um Joe was just like breathing
00:20:03
down my neck like I could feel him
00:20:05
behind me um and then I I made it but I
00:20:08
executed the last little bit of that um
00:20:11
we call it a stagger sequence um really
00:20:14
well and just made enough Gap that I
00:20:15
could do the last after by myself and
00:20:17
kind of like our technique is to go into
00:20:19
the up and you sort of grab it with your
00:20:21
elbow you like dip your elbow under and
00:20:22
then you've kind of got the the gate in
00:20:25
your little I don't know control pocket
00:20:28
I suppose and then once I had that I was
00:20:30
like [ __ ] yeah we're on here we've
00:20:33
actually won this thing and what's um
00:20:35
what's burning is it is it your arms
00:20:36
Burning uh mostly yeah yeah when does
00:20:39
that start to hurt um like to be honest
00:20:42
I didn't really notice it in the in the
00:20:44
head-to-head rounds it's more the time
00:20:45
trials um cuz they're just it's just you
00:20:50
and you're just going as hard as you can
00:20:51
so it's like a 60sec effort so you're
00:20:54
probably probably just over halfway down
00:20:57
before things start to like tie up um
00:21:00
but yeah like it's you know we did heaps
00:21:02
of training for for all of that kind of
00:21:04
physical side of things and um yeah kind
00:21:08
of like once you get to that like the
00:21:09
time trial is pretty horrible actually
00:21:11
because it's just it's just an all out
00:21:13
Max effort and there's not much um
00:21:16
there's a few technical aspects but
00:21:18
compared to like the traditional syum
00:21:20
which is 90 seconds or you know 80 to 90
00:21:23
seconds so you'd think it would be like
00:21:25
a harder effort but there's way more
00:21:27
technique involved so you're actually
00:21:29
yeah you're using all different parts of
00:21:31
your body and um it's not just like
00:21:33
thrashing your arms yeah so and and the
00:21:35
leadup to this um say 3 months prior to
00:21:38
Paris what did a what did an average day
00:21:40
or week look like on on and off of the
00:21:43
water um like how much I I suppose what
00:21:46
I'm asking is it's like the um yeah the
00:21:48
picture of the iceberg so yeah yeah this
00:21:50
gold medal this is the the bit of the
00:21:51
iceberg that we see out of the water um
00:21:53
what's underneath the water um well so
00:21:56
like three months before
00:21:58
we were in Europe already um preparing
00:22:03
so I was in
00:22:05
Paris um being able to train on that
00:22:08
venue um which makes a big difference
00:22:11
because then you become you know like
00:22:12
you learn it you learn all the different
00:22:14
wayes and how all the flow and the
00:22:17
current and the edies react um and that
00:22:20
kind of thing so probably like an
00:22:23
average day would be um either a morning
00:22:26
gym session so you know whenever nothing
00:22:30
nothing happens in France before 10:
00:22:31
a.m.
00:22:33
so you can't train before 10: a.m.
00:22:35
anyway unless you you know you're going
00:22:37
for a run or whatever and um yeah so
00:22:41
it'll be like a morning gem or a or a
00:22:44
morning on the white water and um and
00:22:47
then something in the afternoon as well
00:22:48
so most days there will be double
00:22:50
sessions and um probably like I mean in
00:22:54
total around 90 minutes um including
00:22:57
like warm up and that kind of stuff so
00:22:59
we' we get like an hour slot on the
00:23:01
White Water um and then so you know
00:23:04
either side of that you got warm up and
00:23:05
warm down and um yeah so I don't know I
00:23:09
suppose an average day would be wake up
00:23:11
and have breakfast and then either go
00:23:14
paddling or go to the gym and um go home
00:23:17
go to the bakery probably get a big
00:23:19
it God you you're so uncomplicated yeah
00:23:23
it's pretty it's yeah I mean there's
00:23:25
obviously a lot of other stuff that goes
00:23:27
into uh into stuff but you know like
00:23:29
we've got my training week would be
00:23:32
structured um there's a lot to fit in
00:23:36
because obviously you know there's big
00:23:39
physical aspect but it's so technical as
00:23:42
well and we were juggling we are
00:23:45
juggling still like kite cross and Salem
00:23:48
and I want to be the best in the world
00:23:50
at both of them so um trying not to like
00:23:54
trying to use them both to compliment
00:23:56
each other um as important and the Kay
00:23:59
cross probably requires a higher like
00:24:02
physical load physical input so um you
00:24:07
know like gym and then some Savage like
00:24:10
interval sessions on the on the Flat
00:24:12
Water generally um and then a lot of the
00:24:14
stuff on the White Water would be white
00:24:16
water would be like slum specific like
00:24:19
technique sessions working on um
00:24:21
different moves or different ways to do
00:24:24
upstreams or downstreams or whatever and
00:24:26
then um also like performanc kind of
00:24:29
session so we might do like a race
00:24:31
length run which we call full runs um
00:24:34
and then you'd like either do that or a
00:24:36
session might be you'd split that into
00:24:37
four so you know 15 to 20 second efforts
00:24:42
um or courses um so yeah there's like so
00:24:46
many things and you can honestly like go
00:24:48
down RIT holes of of different stuff but
00:24:50
it's all like a Juggle and a lot of
00:24:53
compromise on how does this session
00:24:56
affect the next one or the session
00:24:59
before it did you do gem too close to
00:25:01
your interval session so then you
00:25:03
couldn't be in the right intensity for
00:25:05
the intervals so yeah it's all trying to
00:25:07
like work through how the week
00:25:09
structured and um yeah and then also
00:25:12
like just even being on the white water
00:25:13
is just really fun so it's like part of
00:25:16
that as well and what about um like
00:25:18
nerves and anxiety and stress or in
00:25:20
press leading up to like a pinnacle
00:25:22
event like this like so much so much
00:25:23
work's going into this this you one
00:25:25
event that you know you get one shot at
00:25:27
it every four years yeah yeah I think um
00:25:29
those was my first games as well so you
00:25:32
were for the for the Tokyo games you
00:25:34
were like a reserve or something yeah so
00:25:35
I was second in our in our like internal
00:25:38
selection so I just missed out um on
00:25:41
going to that so yeah like a
00:25:42
non-traveling reserve basically um so
00:25:46
yeah first experience of Olympics and I
00:25:49
guess leading up to it um it's funny
00:25:52
because I reference Lisa's podcast again
00:25:55
but um she mentioned that you know about
00:26:00
I don't know two or three months out she
00:26:02
had a lot of doubt and um you know like
00:26:05
can can I actually do this can I do the
00:26:08
goal that we set out to you know achieve
00:26:10
or whatever and I I was the exact same
00:26:13
and I think so probably like through
00:26:16
those World Cups which were end of May
00:26:19
start of June like I was performing
00:26:21
really well like I was second in salum
00:26:24
and third in Cross of the first one and
00:26:26
then I was in the top 10 in salum again
00:26:28
um I was 10th in the second race which
00:26:31
is a really good result and then the
00:26:34
third race I was Sixth and cross there
00:26:36
too so it was like a good really good
00:26:38
block of racing and um showed that I was
00:26:42
in pretty good good form and even though
00:26:44
we didn't really prepare those races um
00:26:46
but then probably after that I just
00:26:48
started like doubting a lot of things
00:26:50
and um questioning like am I doing the
00:26:54
right thing and I think it probably came
00:26:57
from
00:26:58
being in the point of the training block
00:27:01
where like you're just getting like
00:27:04
smashed like physically you're just in
00:27:07
the hole and I think like when you get
00:27:09
to that point then things start to like
00:27:11
feel a bit average on the water like and
00:27:14
I kind of focus a lot on how I like on
00:27:18
the feeling so the connection with the
00:27:20
water and my blades and stuff and I
00:27:23
guess a bit of a a hole that I got into
00:27:26
was like I'm not feeling good I'm not
00:27:28
feeling good and it was just because we
00:27:30
were doing so much other training as
00:27:32
well as like the little technical things
00:27:34
that um yeah you get into that mindset
00:27:37
and I think it was quite interesting to
00:27:40
then um kind of work through that and
00:27:43
and realize that actually like this is
00:27:45
the plan that we talked about we thought
00:27:48
a lot about we planned with all my
00:27:50
support team and about what we wanted to
00:27:52
do and these are the reasons why we're
00:27:54
doing it you just got to trust that
00:27:57
you'll come to the other end and and
00:27:59
come right you know a week or two weeks
00:28:02
before the bug event and then you'll be
00:28:05
like firing um so it's just like kind of
00:28:08
trying to get through that little dip
00:28:10
that you that and then once you come to
00:28:12
the other side you're like okay I'm
00:28:13
actually like sending it now it's I'm
00:28:15
feeling good yeah that's that is exactly
00:28:17
the same as um Dame Lisa when I had her
00:28:19
on um my podcast you know she talked
00:28:21
about how you self-doubt Creeps in when
00:28:24
she's doing those hard training blocks
00:28:25
yeah exactly the same yeah it's the same
00:28:27
thing and I think like my coach asked me
00:28:30
the other day um oh what did you get out
00:28:33
of Lisa's podcast and I that's like the
00:28:37
first thing I said I was like oh yeah
00:28:39
she was like in the same place that I
00:28:41
was and like yeah and I think gardy had
00:28:44
mentioned um Gordy Lisa's coach had
00:28:47
mentioned that you know like all gold
00:28:50
medalists or you know anyone will go
00:28:53
through that part and then it's like the
00:28:54
ones that end up winning or doing really
00:28:57
well
00:28:58
um after that are the ones that can find
00:29:01
their way through it um and then use
00:29:03
that to like get better rather than like
00:29:06
get stuck in that same rut so yeah it's
00:29:09
interesting I don't know it's um it's
00:29:11
all just part of preparation for a big
00:29:14
event and um there was definitely nerves
00:29:17
but at the same time like it was like a
00:29:19
a dream a childhood goal to even be at
00:29:22
the game so um you know we did a lot of
00:29:25
work um on the psychology side of
00:29:29
uh how I wanted to approach it and how I
00:29:32
wanted to
00:29:34
use the environment to give me energy
00:29:38
instead of like letting it take energy
00:29:40
from me so um you know everyone talks
00:29:43
about the Olympics being like just a
00:29:45
completely different event to anything
00:29:47
else um that it's quite overwhelming
00:29:50
there's a lot of stuff going on um
00:29:52
things take time and like things take a
00:29:54
lot of time at the games there's just a
00:29:55
lot of like waiting just waiting for no
00:29:58
reason um and like but I think the
00:30:03
mindset that I had and like my coach had
00:30:06
as well was just yeah just to use like
00:30:09
that environment and enjoy it and use it
00:30:11
to take energy instead of you know
00:30:15
focusing on the things that you can't
00:30:16
control and realizing that you know
00:30:20
people
00:30:21
are just take time and piss around and
00:30:24
do all sorts of stuff and um yeah if you
00:30:26
can get energy from that and from the
00:30:28
crowd and everything then yeah you're
00:30:30
going to you're going to enjoy yourself
00:30:31
a lot more so and are you are you a
00:30:33
journaler or you doing any sort of
00:30:35
visualization or manifesting or anything
00:30:37
like that yeah oh not so much journaling
00:30:39
heaps of um visualization um I think it
00:30:43
like ever since I was a kid just you
00:30:46
know visualizing training or racing and
00:30:49
even you know just before I go or and
00:30:52
the days before I go because we so in
00:30:54
Salem you get um you know you can train
00:30:56
on the venue
00:30:58
and then the race course gets set on
00:31:02
like the night before the the evening
00:31:04
Before the Race and we don't train on we
00:31:05
don't pedal on those that particular
00:31:07
gate set up um so we do a lot of well I
00:31:12
do a lot of visualization to basically
00:31:15
practice that those moves before I you
00:31:18
know before I Race So heaps of that kind
00:31:21
of stuff and um there was a bit of that
00:31:23
going on um when I was in Paris before
00:31:28
the games um and then and the months
00:31:31
before the games as well because I spent
00:31:32
a lot of time there and it was it was
00:31:34
quite cool seeing like the grand stand
00:31:37
get built rather than coming from
00:31:39
somewhere else and just arriving and it
00:31:41
was just huge Grand St so um as those
00:31:43
sort of things started getting built
00:31:45
then I could I was doing like some
00:31:49
targeted visualization work
00:31:51
on on like being in that environment
00:31:55
when like oh now I know how big the
00:31:56
grandson is I can add that into my like
00:31:59
visualization and you know when I'm
00:32:01
training we're doing full runs or
00:32:03
whatever and you know I can actually
00:32:06
have a bit more um information to add
00:32:10
into there so yeah that's kind of mostly
00:32:13
what I do and then um yeah bit of bit of
00:32:15
mindfulness work and that kind of stuff
00:32:17
so yeah you've been you've had a um
00:32:19
sport Cy since 2016 so eight years yeah
00:32:22
what um what has um that person bought
00:32:24
to the butcher team um he a lot yeah um
00:32:29
so I guess probably when I started
00:32:32
working with her as Kylie Wilson um
00:32:35
through through high performance sport
00:32:37
in 2016 I was like pretty naive on yeah
00:32:42
on what it takes I suppose like anything
00:32:45
it was it just yeah just an
00:32:46
uncomplicated young man
00:32:49
fromo yeah so um but I just wanted to
00:32:52
like try to get some techniques to be
00:32:55
able to improve my consistency I I think
00:32:58
that's what I what I went to it with and
00:33:00
was like Hey like you know results are a
00:33:03
bit inconsistent or performances are and
00:33:05
and you know how can I um have my
00:33:08
mindset to be kind
00:33:11
of stable when I you know when I start I
00:33:14
know where I am um and so I think yeah I
00:33:17
mean we've done a lot of different
00:33:19
things over the years but um there's a
00:33:21
lot of like being in the moment um
00:33:25
there's a kind of there's a few big
00:33:26
things like being in the moment and that
00:33:28
could be like actually physically being
00:33:31
in there and then also mentally and then
00:33:34
um you know we got to back up a
00:33:36
semi-final with a final and you might
00:33:39
have a good run or a not so good run and
00:33:43
you've got to like bring yourself down
00:33:44
to ground zero or back up to ground zero
00:33:46
and that's kind of like your you know to
00:33:48
find your operating level and then bring
00:33:51
yourself down or up to that um yeah
00:33:55
there's a bit of that and like I a lot
00:33:57
of learning about myself and um it's
00:34:01
funny
00:34:02
because your mind and like performance
00:34:07
is I've said this before it's like a
00:34:10
puzzle right and you're trying to like
00:34:13
solve this puzzle with different
00:34:17
techniques and learning about yourself
00:34:18
and that kind of stuff and then at the
00:34:21
same time you're solving the puzzle the
00:34:23
other end of the puzzle's
00:34:25
changing right because like the context
00:34:28
changes you change um everyone else
00:34:31
changes around you like you grow you
00:34:34
learn different things and then that
00:34:36
changes how you perceive yourself how
00:34:38
other people perceive you and like so as
00:34:41
when you start to figure something out
00:34:43
then like something else is changing in
00:34:45
the background so it's yeah it's just
00:34:47
like a constantly evolving piece like a
00:34:50
puzzle and so it's quite an interesting
00:34:53
way to to look at it CU it never stops
00:34:55
right what what what you did at this
00:34:58
race that you perform really well at is
00:35:01
going to be different to the next race
00:35:03
because everything's changed so yeah
00:35:06
it's it's pretty fun but yeah it's been
00:35:08
awesome working with her because she's
00:35:10
um yeah she's obviously extremely
00:35:13
extremely knowledgeable at stuff but
00:35:15
she's also a legion so um she's cool to
00:35:18
hang out with and and talk to and uh and
00:35:21
catch up about things so yeah yeah
00:35:23
that's so cool were you were you um
00:35:26
reluctant or apprehensive about seeing
00:35:28
um like a sports psychologist in the
00:35:29
beginning or no not at all no no no
00:35:34
um
00:35:35
I don't know why but yeah I was just
00:35:39
like open to yeah real open like this is
00:35:42
you know this is another aspect of of
00:35:45
performance that you know I can work on
00:35:48
so um yeah I think I don't know i' had
00:35:53
education in the past which which made a
00:35:55
difference and um and made me realize it
00:35:57
that was a that was a a good part to
00:36:00
work on or or what but also um like Luca
00:36:05
being around and I think her like the
00:36:09
way she spoke about um the mind like the
00:36:12
Mind work she did and actually Kylie um
00:36:15
is her psych as well so um I think I was
00:36:18
just like hell yeah like Luc has just
00:36:20
won a silver middle I don't know if it
00:36:23
was before or after that I started with
00:36:25
klie but you know I was like Lucas
00:36:27
performing at an exceptional level like
00:36:30
she's doing she doing stuff right so I
00:36:33
want to what she's having yeah so I was
00:36:35
like oh hell yeah you know I'll latch on
00:36:37
to that so I think that's probably where
00:36:39
it started and yeah um as you go through
00:36:42
you you learn how important it is yeah
00:36:44
luuka Jones by the way that's who you're
00:36:45
talking about um five Olympic Games yeah
00:36:47
and two medals bronze or no just one
00:36:50
medal yeah yeah yeah so we're yeah she
00:36:53
was
00:36:54
uh yeah she's she's a weapon
00:36:58
um and she yeah I mean we were we were
00:37:00
pretty gutted for for this year to not
00:37:03
um not be in the final in in The Kite
00:37:05
cross because she was definitely
00:37:07
definitely on for one but yeah at sport
00:37:09
unfortunately so so where were you um
00:37:12
yeah go go back to the beginning of the
00:37:13
games where were you for the opening
00:37:15
ceremony were you on the New Zealand
00:37:16
boat yeah I was on the boat getting
00:37:17
absolutely saturated it was so weet it
00:37:20
was the um what yeah what was it like
00:37:22
being there because as from a a a TV
00:37:25
perspective I I I'd rate it as the
00:37:26
greatest open opening cery I've ever
00:37:28
seen it was phenomenal using the whole
00:37:30
city as um as part of the show but I was
00:37:33
thinking on the boat yeah was it was it
00:37:36
a bit
00:37:37
[ __ ] um oh I loved it but I don't know
00:37:41
if that was just like my my mindset that
00:37:43
I talked about earlier that but yeah it
00:37:45
was sick um it was like a just like a
00:37:47
boat tour down the middle of Paris of
00:37:50
like all of the Epic land landmarks that
00:37:54
you know you wouldn't see otherwise and
00:37:56
there was pretty good crowd it was ping
00:37:58
down and it was kind of cold on the boat
00:38:00
eventually cuz we had like we had like
00:38:03
just these shitty little ponchos like
00:38:06
just you know those plastic youu to
00:38:07
festival or something and like so all we
00:38:09
had was those and then we took them off
00:38:11
when like the camera was supposed to
00:38:13
come on but I think that was a bit we
00:38:15
got a bit early so um we were just like
00:38:19
getting absolutely saturated but it was
00:38:21
really fun and um not heaps of our team
00:38:24
went um so it was like kind of a smaller
00:38:26
team we had a lot of support stuff that
00:38:28
went I think they kind of were like
00:38:30
guys yeah um but it was epic and I mean
00:38:34
we didn't see heaps of the presentation
00:38:37
you know all the acts and that kind of
00:38:39
stuff cuz I think it was kind of made
00:38:40
for TV I think some people who paid like
00:38:43
thousands of Euros to sit on the side of
00:38:45
the river would have been pretty
00:38:46
disappointed cuz it's not made for yeah
00:38:49
that's that's what that's what I mean
00:38:50
it's like at least you've got um seats
00:38:53
you know near the steps where Lady Gaga
00:38:54
was singing you're not going to see that
00:38:55
at all exactly yeah but on TV
00:39:01
but it itless we just
00:39:04
justs um all the different landmarks and
00:39:08
yeah that was that was epic and yeah I
00:39:11
enjoyed it yeah cu the the kaying area
00:39:13
was quite a way out of the the Olympic
00:39:15
Village right yeah so were you staying
00:39:17
in an Airbnb or uh I stayed in the
00:39:19
village oh the village oh okay how long
00:39:21
was the commute uh oh it
00:39:24
depended depended on the if the bus got
00:39:27
lost or not oh God yeah so um on a good
00:39:31
run so there was like um Olympic Lanes
00:39:34
on the motorway so one whole Lane was
00:39:37
just for like Olympic Transport oh
00:39:39
that's like a T2 Lane but for exactly
00:39:42
yeah so if they they had like it's real
00:39:46
dumb cuz they had like a um like their
00:39:48
own app a transport app which
00:39:50
prioritized the Olympic Lanes which
00:39:52
makes sense right but then the app was
00:39:55
real buggy and all the bus drivers as
00:39:58
volunteers from not from Paris so no one
00:40:00
knows where they're going and so if that
00:40:02
bugged out and like just quit or
00:40:04
something they would just whip up like
00:40:06
Google Maps or Wes or whatever they do
00:40:08
and that would take us on like a crazy
00:40:10
route cuz it was trying to avoid the
00:40:12
traffic even though we didn't go through
00:40:15
the traffic cuz we had our own lane so
00:40:17
like for the first few days it was just
00:40:19
like it took us so long sometimes like
00:40:21
over an hour and a half to get there cuz
00:40:24
like the bus drivers were just driving
00:40:26
like randomly I've got a screenshot on
00:40:28
my phone and it's like um of Google Maps
00:40:31
and you know how it shows like the
00:40:32
little dot where you are and we're like
00:40:33
on the complete wrong side of Paris and
00:40:35
then finally someone went like one of
00:40:37
the coaches or whatever went up to the
00:40:38
bus driver like where you going he's
00:40:40
like oh I don't know like the the app
00:40:42
didn't stopped working and he was just
00:40:44
driving like randomly just like oh my
00:40:47
God trying to find his way by the nose
00:40:49
so um yeah but on a good day it was like
00:40:52
less than an hour 45 minutes um but I
00:40:56
like they asked us quite a long time ago
00:40:58
like a quite a long time before the
00:41:00
games like a year or two if we wanted to
00:41:03
stay in the village or at a separate
00:41:06
place or whatever and I was like well
00:41:08
I'm not even qualified yet and also like
00:41:11
I don't know like Village I guess and we
00:41:15
got you know there was other other times
00:41:17
where we could have probably changed
00:41:19
things but um I really wanted to stay in
00:41:21
the village
00:41:22
cuz I you know might never get to go to
00:41:25
the Olympics again it just depends on a
00:41:28
lot of different things so yeah I feel
00:41:30
you'd miss out the whole Olympic
00:41:32
experience if you didn't stay there for
00:41:33
sure and um you know I'd spoken to some
00:41:35
other coaches and athletes who' you know
00:41:37
been there and done that and they were
00:41:39
like to be honest that's like pretty
00:41:40
normal travel time and um luc's Old
00:41:44
Coach Campbell who now actually coaches
00:41:46
Joe Clark who was the the guy who was
00:41:48
second in K cross he um he was like well
00:41:51
yeah you know like in Rio it was about
00:41:53
the same and and we just made good time
00:41:55
of it watched our did our video you on
00:41:57
the bus and you know had lots of food to
00:42:00
make sure you recover properly and that
00:42:02
kind of stuff and like we managed it and
00:42:03
it was all good and um yeah I actually
00:42:07
am really really happy we stayed in the
00:42:08
village um cuz yeah you got to we got to
00:42:12
experience being part of um the whole
00:42:15
New Zealand team which was awesome and
00:42:18
um and it was crazy I cannot imagine
00:42:22
anything more badass than walking around
00:42:24
the Olympic Village with a gold medal
00:42:26
around your neck
00:42:28
yeah I think having having some of the
00:42:30
world's you know most elite athletes
00:42:32
congratulating you yeah yeah yeah I I
00:42:35
don't know if I ever walked around the
00:42:37
village with it around my neck oh why
00:42:39
not yeah I don't know is it not the done
00:42:42
thing um I don't think I really saw it
00:42:45
no um but it was like definitely there
00:42:48
was definitely people that I knew that
00:42:49
were congratulating me around the
00:42:51
village and stuff but I think it would
00:42:52
be more badass to walk around like just
00:42:55
town like that cuz like the Olympic
00:42:58
Village like people see you know they're
00:43:00
all athletes or coaches and like they
00:43:02
see Olympic Champions all the time but
00:43:05
like if you just walk down like the mall
00:43:07
with your Olympic midal on people would
00:43:09
be like what the [ __ ] point point so but
00:43:12
yeah it was um it was a really really
00:43:14
cool environment like just a whole
00:43:17
suburb of massive new apartment
00:43:20
buildings with like 10 to 30,000 people
00:43:23
living there all eating at the food Hall
00:43:26
like it was was crazy did and the cad
00:43:29
wood beards what were they like a [ __ ]
00:43:32
yeah oh like the cwood part of it is
00:43:34
fine cuz it's just the base so like a
00:43:37
beard base is hard anyway and like it's
00:43:39
it's not going to collapse it's pretty
00:43:40
strong I don't know I feel like David Le
00:43:42
here was was sleeping on it and a unit
00:43:45
yeah um so like 77 kilos of me is going
00:43:49
to be fine um so the but the mattress
00:43:54
was terrible mattress is super thin it's
00:43:56
like I don't know 15 cm 10 cm thick and
00:43:59
it's like it's like recycled plastic it
00:44:02
was just real hard so the first few
00:44:04
nights I had a pretty dusty sleeps and
00:44:06
then um we actually teed up one of the
00:44:08
support stuff when and got uh mattress
00:44:11
topper for me and then after that was
00:44:13
meant oh sweet and did you did you um
00:44:16
fan girl over anyone in the Olympic
00:44:17
Village um who did you see anyone of
00:44:20
note uh I saw Andy Murray oh yeah um but
00:44:24
I think all the big dogs go and they
00:44:26
stay at like hotels be so hard being a
00:44:29
yeah yeah I think they pop in for like
00:44:31
you know a day or something or just go
00:44:33
for dinner at some time but yeah it
00:44:35
would be hard like I feel like you just
00:44:37
get so many people wanting you autograph
00:44:40
or a photo or whatever that you couldn't
00:44:41
actually prepare your event properly so
00:44:44
yeah I think like I really wanted to see
00:44:45
like LeBron James or stiff Curry or
00:44:47
something but they were all just in a
00:44:49
hotel and um I'm real into Road cycling
00:44:52
not doing it but watching it um and so
00:44:55
there's a few of the Belgian Road and
00:44:57
that kind of thing that I saw around the
00:44:59
village and that was quite cool but I'm
00:45:01
not I'm not really the one that would be
00:45:03
like run up to someone and want a photo
00:45:05
so um yeah you're not Michaela blide
00:45:08
with shell and Fraser price no I wasn't
00:45:11
that into it but um yeah so I was just
00:45:15
like oh it's you know W vanard or or who
00:45:18
so um yeah not not huge Fang girl and
00:45:22
any um any New Zealand new zealanders
00:45:24
that you sort of um bonded with or
00:45:26
became good friends with um yeah few
00:45:28
actually so um actually good mates with
00:45:31
uh Lawrence py so he's our one of our
00:45:34
road cyclist um so yeah got got mates
00:45:38
with him and he actually came out to the
00:45:40
the kite cross um for a couple days here
00:45:42
to had to shoot off to another another
00:45:45
race before the finals but um he was
00:45:47
loving it man so there's a bit of that
00:45:49
and then um like yeah everyone was was
00:45:51
super friendly and you know the hockey
00:45:53
boys the roads uh the rock climbers they
00:45:57
were awesome they were like um I think
00:46:00
one of their sort of goals cuz it's like
00:46:02
they're a small sport right and they
00:46:04
probably don't get like us like too much
00:46:07
interaction with with other New Zealand
00:46:09
Sports and I think one of their things
00:46:11
was that they were deliberately wanting
00:46:13
to like interact and and hang out with
00:46:15
other people so they were always always
00:46:17
around for a for a coffee or or a
00:46:20
hangout down in our team room and and
00:46:21
watch different sports so they were
00:46:23
really cool yeah I mean everyone in the
00:46:25
New Zealand team was just super friendly
00:46:27
and um like all there for the same
00:46:30
reason but also all there to enjoy the
00:46:32
whole atmosphere so yeah okay so um yeah
00:46:37
man what an experience it's so bloody
00:46:39
cool it's incredible my like camera roll
00:46:42
from July and August is just nuts on my
00:46:44
phone I just photos on there that I just
00:46:46
would never have ever imagined that I'd
00:46:48
have that's sick I I just I never get
00:46:52
sick of um doing these podcasts with um
00:46:54
Olympians especially yeah I'm obsessed
00:46:56
with the olymp ESP people there and a
00:46:58
medal like it's just nuts so okay so you
00:47:01
win you win the race um what happens
00:47:05
drug testing and so you can't so you had
00:47:08
heaps of family there right family and
00:47:09
friends and your your girlfriend got
00:47:10
t-shirts printed up like 28 t-shirts
00:47:13
what do the t-shirts say yeah um oh they
00:47:15
just had um they had like different
00:47:18
photos of me on it kind of one of those
00:47:21
ones and then um just like my my last
00:47:23
name on the on the top and um it was
00:47:26
funny cuz like they were black and then
00:47:29
like the first day that everyone wore
00:47:30
them was like 30 something 37° or
00:47:33
something and they all in the stands
00:47:35
just like as cooking I was like sorry
00:47:37
guys should have made them white but too
00:47:40
bad um who who were the who were the
00:47:43
lucky 28 uh jeez I don't know even know
00:47:46
if iing name like just family friends or
00:47:48
friends of yours or oh all sorts yeah so
00:47:51
like um Mom and Dad were there and my
00:47:53
sister and her partner or her fiance um
00:47:56
um and then Courtney obviously my
00:47:59
girlfriend and then her parents were
00:48:01
there um couple of my friends there was
00:48:04
like some came for the slum and not the
00:48:07
cross and then some just the cross and
00:48:09
not slum um and then yeah like I had a
00:48:12
good amount of friends that came and um
00:48:15
my one of my physios um Haley she's
00:48:18
lives in Aussie now but she came over
00:48:20
for um fish Amy Fisher good friends with
00:48:24
her so she was there it was actually
00:48:26
really cuz she snuck into the she was
00:48:29
obviously Flatwater king um and their
00:48:33
venues on the like the lake that our
00:48:35
course comes off of so we're kind of
00:48:37
joined um and so she like snuck into the
00:48:41
athletes area which only like the
00:48:44
accredited people could get into and so
00:48:46
she was there like when I finished in
00:48:49
the final and she was like right there
00:48:50
there's a sick photo of her I think I'm
00:48:52
like Lucas hugging me and then fishes
00:48:54
behind me just like balling her eyes out
00:48:55
it's so cool so she had one on um yeah
00:49:00
yeah and then like friends who have like
00:49:04
family friends who got me into the sport
00:49:07
like Mary and gardy and then pep and Ian
00:49:09
who like were in up in ockland but they
00:49:13
like Ian took me on like some of my
00:49:15
first trips away like We went on a
00:49:17
junior tour to Aussie like a development
00:49:20
score tour kind of thing I was probably
00:49:21
like 15 or maybe even 14 um and like
00:49:26
they' just been been like huge
00:49:27
supporters of the sport and and of me so
00:49:30
yeah like they're all there and um but
00:49:32
yeah straight after the race is pretty
00:49:34
hectic um we had doping control but it
00:49:37
was like finish they were like you get
00:49:40
one interview and it was just with like
00:49:42
the
00:49:43
Olympic broadcast I guess and then
00:49:46
straight to like this kind of room in a
00:49:49
tent like a tent that had our uniform in
00:49:52
it so before the race we got to get all
00:49:55
our uniform ready to go and I just gave
00:49:58
it to Lucas coach who was like team
00:50:01
leader and like he sorted it out and
00:50:04
then yeah it go I goes somewhere I guess
00:50:07
and when I got into that tent it was
00:50:08
like there a little box with my uniform
00:50:11
tracksuit all there so like the three of
00:50:13
us got you know you get changed and then
00:50:16
um few minutes later straight on the
00:50:19
podium and then I we got to go across
00:50:23
the river across the coast and like meet
00:50:26
up with like friends and family and
00:50:27
stuff for like a couple minutes which
00:50:30
was epic um so cool to see all them over
00:50:33
there and
00:50:35
then back again did an interview with Ms
00:50:38
um and a few others which was awesome
00:50:41
and then yeah they just whipped us off
00:50:43
to like a big press conference and then
00:50:45
straight into doping control which is
00:50:48
yeah kind of the first time you get to
00:50:51
breathe a little bit and be like holy
00:50:53
[ __ ] what just happened what just
00:50:55
happened I like crazy like I have a
00:50:57
photo of me and um Noami Fox so she's
00:51:01
good friend from from Aussie um and she
00:51:04
won the kite cross the woman's
00:51:08
final One race before mine or two races
00:51:11
before mine I can't remember it was hers
00:51:12
then the men's like B final then me but
00:51:16
um I heard on the speaker that she won
00:51:18
or she was winning when I was waiting
00:51:20
for my race and she won and then um I
00:51:23
got a photo with her and dop and like
00:51:25
while we were just waiting and doping
00:51:26
control for the all the documents and
00:51:28
stuff and we were just like holy [ __ ]
00:51:32
this is crazy and we both had had gold
00:51:34
medal so yeah it was um it was epic and
00:51:37
then I had heaps out the media and
00:51:39
finally got I got back to the Village at
00:51:40
like 10:00 at night um and the team came
00:51:44
out um and did a big hucker for me to
00:51:47
welcome me back in which was pretty
00:51:48
powerful oh my God yeah were you
00:51:51
emotional yeah yeah yeah uh pretty
00:51:54
emotional but yeah like
00:51:57
just and kind of like an awe and just
00:52:00
like wow this is amazing whole whole
00:52:04
experience yeah oh it's incredible and
00:52:06
then and then you did you party with the
00:52:07
Irish no yeah oh yeah we went you at the
00:52:10
Irish that yeah that was uh couple
00:52:13
nights later so that night cuz I got
00:52:16
didn't get back to the Village till 10
00:52:18
then I had a shower and all that stuff
00:52:20
cuz I couldn't shower after my race
00:52:22
because it was just straight to the
00:52:23
podium basically so I was like man I
00:52:25
probably smell like terrible and then um
00:52:30
uh so sh and stuff finally got into like
00:52:32
Enid house just after 11:30 maybe to
00:52:35
meet up with friends and family and like
00:52:37
all the guys that were at the course
00:52:39
supporting me all went there and I was
00:52:41
meeting up with them and then um we went
00:52:45
to like just a chill bar and then they
00:52:46
closed by the we only had a couple beers
00:52:49
and they closed so the next night was um
00:52:53
I don't know if it was the next night or
00:52:54
the night after that was real big but we
00:52:57
we like met all met up all the kayakers
00:52:58
met up and so like all all of us all the
00:53:01
Mists everyone was who was still in
00:53:03
Paris all met up and we went to a bar
00:53:05
like which is called Wall Street and
00:53:07
like all the prices of the drinks
00:53:09
changed like um Stock Exchange yeah it
00:53:13
was sick and then um so we're all there
00:53:15
and like the bartenders were so suck
00:53:17
that we were there and like I was behind
00:53:19
the bar like pouring people drinks like
00:53:23
taking orders making shots for people
00:53:25
it's so funny
00:53:27
um I got a video of them like pouring um
00:53:29
like pouring a shot into my mouth like
00:53:31
it's hilarious um and that's a night and
00:53:34
then after that we went to the Irish
00:53:36
house and so kiwi house was at the
00:53:39
Marriot on the Sham so it's like kind of
00:53:41
a place you could go hang out watch the
00:53:44
sport have a couple beers but not like
00:53:47
fully send it the Irish house was just
00:53:49
obviously at an Irish
00:53:51
bar and why not cuz why not and so uh my
00:53:55
mate no who
00:53:57
Irish um paddles for Ireland he um he
00:54:00
like teed up that we'd all get in there
00:54:03
and so like we all had our mles on and
00:54:05
we just like go into this bar um and
00:54:08
then we just yeah that was we sent it I
00:54:10
think we got home at 7:30 in the morning
00:54:12
back to incredible that was yeah it was
00:54:15
it was awesome night it was good fun
00:54:17
yeah your um your reference um mes
00:54:20
before Andrew Mulligan and your the the
00:54:22
speech that you made just after winning
00:54:23
and um yeah I feel like you you you
00:54:26
didn't uh forget to thank anyone like it
00:54:28
was a really good speech and you you
00:54:29
mentioned um you gave a shout out to um
00:54:31
sge yeah who's your coach who died of um
00:54:34
pancreatic cancer in 2022 um yeah let's
00:54:38
talk about him yeah who's I probably did
00:54:40
forget to mention people I can't
00:54:42
remember what I said but there's 28
00:54:44
people in t-shirts you can't get
00:54:46
everyone 28 people that made it there
00:54:47
there's a heck of a lot that didn't make
00:54:49
it yeah true um yeah I S like so alen
00:54:54
alen Hoffman as full name but obviously
00:54:57
s he was um he was in the
00:55:00
military um pretty high up in the
00:55:03
military um but just a all around Legion
00:55:07
pretty much so he was basically when I
00:55:09
was growing up in Alex him and his
00:55:12
family his wife and two kids were based
00:55:15
in
00:55:16
wer um so they kind of were like pretty
00:55:19
integral in the whole King scene around
00:55:22
central tago running races and that kind
00:55:25
of stuff and like he was just like
00:55:28
someone who would do anything just to
00:55:32
see someone like happy and and like
00:55:36
succeed but his idea of success wasn't
00:55:38
like winning or anything it was just
00:55:39
like enjoying kaying basically um so
00:55:44
yeah I mean he was just an absolute
00:55:47
Legend um supported me basically since I
00:55:50
started he was actually so when I first
00:55:53
started I went to uh
00:55:57
um like a novice slum race when I was
00:55:59
about nine with some other friends and
00:56:02
like our family friends were kind of in
00:56:03
the scene well they were they were
00:56:06
basically the scene and
00:56:08
um running it and so yeah sge was
00:56:11
running that race and so like and then I
00:56:13
I won this little novice stlm race and
00:56:16
um you know he gave me a chocolate fish
00:56:19
and stuff and he was at the end of the
00:56:20
price giving he was selling a uh an old
00:56:23
syum boat for 200 bucks or something
00:56:26
with pedal and dead was kind of like oh
00:56:28
like you
00:56:29
know I saw you enjoy it like if you
00:56:32
really want to do it Go and ask sge if
00:56:34
you can you can buy this boat off and
00:56:36
whatever and yeah so we did that and
00:56:39
then we went up to W that week and
00:56:41
picked up this boat and yeah just loved
00:56:44
it ever since but he
00:56:46
um yeah when he got diagnosed with
00:56:50
pancreatic cancer he basically was like
00:56:54
6 to n months and he was like there was
00:56:58
I don't I don't know the date but
00:57:00
um he he had so and by that time him and
00:57:06
his um wife kirst had moved over to
00:57:09
wacka white in um on the coast just
00:57:12
about north of denen and um and he had
00:57:16
this so there's a white water course in
00:57:18
Teo and that was kind of like his who
00:57:21
always said is like his mistress you
00:57:24
know like he was he was just there all
00:57:26
the time just working on this course
00:57:28
like literally like moving rocks
00:57:31
concreting on the Digger all sorts of
00:57:33
stuff and just trying to make this
00:57:35
course and this venue um better for
00:57:38
everyone to enjoy and like he was like
00:57:41
all through his chemo everything he was
00:57:45
out there all the time in the freezing
00:57:47
cold just working so hard and um yeah it
00:57:53
was like yeah just inspirational like
00:57:57
um if it's kind of
00:58:01
like it's just one of those people that
00:58:04
kind of connects with you and goes like
00:58:06
and just makes you realize like what
00:58:08
actually matters in life and it's not
00:58:11
like for him it wasn't like getting up
00:58:14
of cash it wasn't all this stuff it was
00:58:16
just enjoying peddling
00:58:19
and yeah helping the community and yeah
00:58:23
hanging out with his family and he's
00:58:25
just Legion it's like super hard to
00:58:27
describe cuz yeah yeah jeez I'm I'm
00:58:30
getting emotional just like stop myself
00:58:33
crying every time why why do you yeah
00:58:35
why otherwise I won't be able to say
00:58:39
anything yeah I think that's the um
00:58:41
that's the nicest thing you can do
00:58:42
though way like I mean he's obviously
00:58:44
gone and you whether you believe in an
00:58:46
afterlife or not like the keep
00:58:48
acknowledging him and talking about him
00:58:49
in such a nice way um yeah I can't
00:58:52
imagine what that means to the family
00:58:54
you know and people that know him that
00:58:56
you're keeping that memory alive yeah oh
00:58:58
he's he's bloody good man so it was cool
00:59:00
like I actually when I flew back in
00:59:02
sorry um when I came back in straight
00:59:06
after the games uh his son Nick is a
00:59:08
pilot for New Zealand and he was
00:59:11
actually up in Oakland on like he was on
00:59:13
standby and had to fly to Oakland so had
00:59:15
the whole day and so um Len my mate came
00:59:20
picked me up and Nick actually met us at
00:59:22
the airport and it was like it was so
00:59:25
cool to see him there and then yeah we
00:59:27
went for a beer and a burger at North
00:59:30
coat T and yeah it was a cool man yeah
00:59:34
yeah after his diagnosis how long did he
00:59:36
how long did he did he last sounds from
00:59:39
what you describ long time yeah um [ __ ]
00:59:41
he must been in pain too yeah oh
00:59:44
unimaginable
00:59:46
um [ __ ] when was it I think it was 2015
00:59:50
maybe and then um he passed a couple
00:59:54
years ago can you remember your like
00:59:56
your final conversation with him or
00:59:57
anything was it anything poyant or
00:59:58
special or
01:00:02
uh no nah not not really I think it was
01:00:06
probably just some exchange some
01:00:08
messages while I was overseas um yeah
01:00:13
cuz he was always
01:00:14
watching yeah he was he was following
01:00:17
whatever you were doing yeah bro like he
01:00:19
was the first one to message me I think
01:00:22
first one to message me and Dad always
01:00:24
said like it was the first one to
01:00:26
message dead straight after race that
01:00:29
was so cool like yeah it was just like 4
01:00:34
a.m. up watching like yeah did he um did
01:00:39
did he did he think this was possible
01:00:41
like did he have this belief in you what
01:00:44
would he make of all this yeah I reckon
01:00:46
he did I reckon he did yeah yeah I
01:00:49
reckon he did man some of his stories
01:00:51
are so good like from the was messaging
01:00:56
a mate yesterday and he was like I hope
01:00:57
you tell some stories it's like sorry
01:01:01
okay like what you got cuz he so like
01:01:05
cuz obviously it's been a lot of time in
01:01:06
the Army he was a tank commander like
01:01:10
there was all sorts of stuff like just
01:01:11
stuff in the army that he would do and
01:01:13
you know us little kids we would just be
01:01:15
like an awe of all these stories that he
01:01:17
was talking about and you know driving
01:01:20
tanks around around around the desert
01:01:22
road and um shooting at horses and all
01:01:26
sorts of stuff the
01:01:28
kids horses yeah I don't know how much I
01:01:30
can say on the podcast but know just
01:01:33
that's not familiar they're not like um
01:01:35
dresses or they're wild they're very
01:01:38
dangerous yeah and so you know all this
01:01:40
sort of stuff and I I remember in um we
01:01:44
had this little um course this little
01:01:46
river just outside um denen and and uh W
01:01:50
pory and you know like we'd have I think
01:01:54
we had uh Secondary School Champs there
01:01:57
or something and we were we were
01:01:58
preparing for it and cutting all these
01:02:00
trees down and so we had this big
01:02:02
bombfire and he was and it wasn't lit
01:02:04
and he was like watch this kids and he
01:02:06
just like got the gasoline you know got
01:02:08
the got the pedrol can and just made a
01:02:10
trail and then dous this whole thing and
01:02:13
he was like step back and he he didn't
01:02:15
hold back on the profanities either like
01:02:17
every every sentence was swearing um and
01:02:21
so like you know all these you know we
01:02:23
what are we like 12 13 and just Lear how
01:02:26
to swear from him pretty much and he
01:02:28
just lights it up and just this whole
01:02:30
bombfire and so like he just had he just
01:02:34
he just got [ __ ] done and um he hated
01:02:39
like um bureaucracy and barriers to
01:02:43
people being in the sport um and yeah I
01:02:47
I remember him in the water in Yi up to
01:02:52
basically his almost his neck with a
01:02:54
chainsaw cutting trees so we could run a
01:02:58
race that went further down the river so
01:02:59
there was trees across the river and he
01:03:01
was cutting these trees with his
01:03:02
chainsaw and like up to his neck and
01:03:04
water and and then cutting them down
01:03:06
into the water with the chainsaw and
01:03:08
just like there just nothing would stop
01:03:10
him um but he sounds so loose oh he's
01:03:14
real loose but just the the kindest guy
01:03:18
um and so yeah I mean there's plenty of
01:03:22
Plenty Of War or Not War Stories but
01:03:24
yeah military stories that he would tell
01:03:26
us that our K would just be like holy so
01:03:30
he would have definitely been t-shir 29
01:03:33
yeah yeah yeah for sure for sure and um
01:03:37
d d and Wendy your parent yeah yeah um
01:03:40
[ __ ] they they sound they sound
01:03:41
incredible yeah they retired now y yeah
01:03:45
so they were um they're in the
01:03:46
hospitality game yeah what do they have
01:03:48
like a was it like a like a wedding
01:03:49
venue uh a catering business what was it
01:03:52
yeah yeah so uh basically I think not
01:03:56
long
01:03:57
after um after they they had kids um
01:04:01
they decided to kind of build this Cafe
01:04:06
and wedding business actually I think
01:04:08
the idea might have come from one of my
01:04:10
best friends um who I grew up with his
01:04:13
parents got married at their house and
01:04:16
and then they were kind of like oh we
01:04:17
could you know maybe turn this into a
01:04:18
business so yeah they had a a cafe and
01:04:22
and function Center and had I don't know
01:04:24
over 5 or 600 weddings um throughout
01:04:27
their time so they were there for 34
01:04:29
years um but kind of not all that time
01:04:32
they were running it was an orchard at
01:04:34
the start um and yeah they just like I'm
01:04:38
so lucky to have them it's it's like
01:04:41
they were just so so supportive of me
01:04:45
and um how much sacrifice they get they
01:04:49
gave and honestly they're like the
01:04:51
hardest working people I'd ever imagin I
01:04:53
mean anyone that who's in the
01:04:54
hospitality business that it's just you
01:04:56
just got to work hard and long hours and
01:05:00
um and being like at home was even more
01:05:04
so you know
01:05:06
cuz they couldn't go home after work
01:05:09
they were still there so um everything
01:05:11
was just constantly working and um but
01:05:15
yeah they
01:05:16
just like they always said that my
01:05:20
kaying was their hobby you know like
01:05:22
supporting me was their hobby cuz that's
01:05:26
I guess that's what it takes at you know
01:05:29
sort of Grassroots sport level like um
01:05:34
people have
01:05:35
to make a lot of sacrifices and um
01:05:38
without my parents I definitely wouldn't
01:05:40
still be paddling because um it's pretty
01:05:42
expensive to to go and go paddling even
01:05:45
around New Zealand and then let alone
01:05:47
travel to Europe to go and race
01:05:49
internationally it's yeah it's big big
01:05:52
cost yeah cuz it's it's not one of those
01:05:53
like if you were the um the equivalent
01:05:55
level in say rugby or Cricket you know
01:05:58
you'd be getting a you'd be getting a
01:05:59
good a good a good pay packet um but
01:06:01
it's not a big money sport so um I've
01:06:04
heard they were working like 100 hour
01:06:05
weeks yeah and um basically pumping
01:06:08
anything they made into into advancing
01:06:09
your career pretty much yeah and like
01:06:12
like you say that it wasn't like it's
01:06:15
not like I guess uh Formula 1 or
01:06:18
something where if you you know you pump
01:06:20
up your son or daughter's career then
01:06:23
eventually there's going to be a Payday
01:06:26
um potentially there was no potential
01:06:28
Payday for this it was just you're
01:06:32
you're passionate about this and you
01:06:33
love it and you're happy and we just
01:06:35
want to see you do that so we'll support
01:06:38
you and like yeah it's there was no
01:06:42
never any Kickback financially that was
01:06:45
on the horizon it was just uh you just
01:06:48
like it so we we'll help you do it and
01:06:50
you know we had our house was kind of
01:06:53
funny it had like a um
01:06:56
like a glass ceiling on one of the um
01:06:59
there was like a double Lounge kind of
01:07:00
thing it was weird and it was all
01:07:03
cracked and leaking and stuff so every
01:07:05
time it rain luckily we live in
01:07:06
Alexandre where it's not much rain but
01:07:09
every time it did rain it would just
01:07:11
pour through the roof so we had to put
01:07:12
buckets and stuff out and Mom would
01:07:14
always say I'd rather spend the money on
01:07:17
on sending you to Europe or sending you
01:07:19
on a training camp or helping you do
01:07:21
whatever then fix the fix the roof so
01:07:25
yeah just stuff like that that parents
01:07:28
do that um yeah makes a big difference
01:07:31
so I mean it was it was pretty cool to
01:07:34
to see or to have them in Paris and then
01:07:38
also yeah like see the interviews with
01:07:41
them and and be able to like have them
01:07:44
there with me while through all that
01:07:46
cuz I wouldn't have been there without
01:07:48
them so yeah pretty cool that story
01:07:52
about the glass ceiling that's you feel
01:07:55
guilty
01:07:55
[Laughter]
01:07:57
I for sure there was like different
01:08:00
periods periods where I was like you
01:08:02
know like you feel this better work yeah
01:08:05
or yeah I mean but at the same time it
01:08:07
was like I know that they're working
01:08:10
bloody hard for me
01:08:11
so if I'm not working bloody hard to get
01:08:15
better at something that they're
01:08:16
allowing me to do then what's you know
01:08:19
like who am I kind of thing um so yeah
01:08:23
they were well they are they just epic
01:08:26
appearance man like and seeing them like
01:08:29
chilling retired is just so special like
01:08:33
going down south and like they sold up
01:08:35
the business a couple years ago now and
01:08:38
um retired and I got like some decent
01:08:42
results in 2021 so got a little bit of
01:08:44
funding
01:08:45
so like things weren't I didn't have to
01:08:48
pay we didn't have to pay as much money
01:08:50
basically still losing money but um
01:08:54
keeping your headit above so it meant
01:08:56
that they didn't have to work as hard
01:08:58
basically which was pretty special and
01:09:00
and then seeing them retire and um and
01:09:04
just like in their they renovated a
01:09:06
house um that looks kind of up over the
01:09:08
river and up to the Leaning rock down in
01:09:10
in Alex and like just going down there
01:09:13
and and hanging out with them and and
01:09:15
they don't have to wake up at 6:00 in
01:09:18
the morning and start working at 7 in
01:09:20
the in the cafe for a wedding that's
01:09:22
that night or whatever is pretty cool
01:09:24
and just like you you know get up late
01:09:26
and they have a 9:30 coffee looking out
01:09:29
over the river it's like man I'm so
01:09:32
happy for you guys that you can do this
01:09:34
now so yeah cool I mate I can I can hear
01:09:37
the um like the just the the love and
01:09:40
the respect um and your voice when you
01:09:42
when you when you talk about it yeah um
01:09:45
and I think for for their perspective um
01:09:47
like if they have a watch or or here
01:09:49
this or any other interview you've done
01:09:51
for that matter um yeah I mean they'll
01:09:53
know how grateful you are yeah yeah
01:09:55
which I think is cool are you any other
01:09:56
siblings uh yeah I've got an older
01:09:58
sister right so she was living in the
01:10:00
house with the little yeah yeah spending
01:10:02
all his money on fin well I did hear you
01:10:05
Dad in another interview um maybe I read
01:10:07
it somewhere saying um you like always a
01:10:09
really disciplined trainer but terribly
01:10:11
Missy yeah yeah it still is really yeah
01:10:16
like I'm just I run a floor drob off I
01:10:18
don't know why I just always been like
01:10:21
that my parents aren't really like that
01:10:23
either I don't know where I got it from
01:10:24
but um
01:10:25
yeah messy room um I was a bit of a
01:10:29
procrastinator when I was a kid as well
01:10:30
so there was definitely a few times
01:10:33
where Dad would be like come on you've
01:10:36
like you know before I got my license
01:10:37
and stuff come on it's you to come
01:10:40
pedling time or whatever and I'd be just
01:10:43
pussing around doing something like I
01:10:45
don't know what I was doing but and he'd
01:10:48
be like tie my boat on the roof get all
01:10:50
my gear ready get it in the car and then
01:10:52
like Mom would be like come on like all
01:10:54
you got to do is get in the car and and
01:10:56
then Dad would take me and I'd be happy
01:10:58
once I got there but just for some
01:10:59
reason mucking around procrastinating
01:11:02
and he used to get yeah he used to get
01:11:04
frustrated cuz there's nothing that
01:11:07
annoys him more that than being late and
01:11:09
I think I got that from mom cuz she
01:11:12
she's always late and D's always pissed
01:11:15
off yeah so oh man it's um but were you
01:11:19
were you were you quite self-driven
01:11:20
though I mean it's like it's
01:11:22
understandable if you're especially in
01:11:23
your teenage years I guess that you have
01:11:24
moments where you can't be [ __ ] or
01:11:26
whatever but for the most part you were
01:11:29
that sort of single-minded focus yeah
01:11:30
yeah pretty much like yeah I
01:11:33
think probably as well from a small
01:11:36
sport from a small town and we didn't
01:11:39
have like we had a club um our club's
01:11:42
bloody awesome but um often we didn't
01:11:45
have any coaching you know it wasn't
01:11:48
like now where it's like all right we've
01:11:51
got these sessions and the coach is
01:11:53
there and you turn up up and you know
01:11:56
like you work hard together it sort of
01:11:58
thing it was a lot of it was just like
01:12:00
here's your your plan which either I've
01:12:02
made myself or you know I've talked to
01:12:05
someone and a local Coach or someone who
01:12:08
sort of knows what they're talking about
01:12:09
to then you know help me figure out what
01:12:13
I need to do and so yeah most of it was
01:12:16
just by itself and um and especially
01:12:19
through the winter there was like the
01:12:21
kind of numbers that um you'd be
01:12:24
paddling with in the summer really
01:12:26
thin down when you're when you're ping
01:12:27
in central Taro in the winter I can
01:12:30
imagine yeah yeah so I think I was
01:12:32
always self-driven I just always loved
01:12:35
it I think um I don't
01:12:38
know I think it didn't it didn't come
01:12:41
until maybe around the Rio Olympics time
01:12:44
like 2016 2015 2016 where I was kind of
01:12:48
like oh that like that dream that I had
01:12:50
as a kid of going to the Olympics was
01:12:52
actually kind of more tangible so you
01:12:54
like 2021 at the
01:12:55
yeah so I went to I went to atig UNI for
01:12:57
2 years like
01:12:59
20134 um which was like pretty cool
01:13:03
experience but also I was trying to
01:13:05
train I was kind of like half in the
01:13:07
training half being a student and it
01:13:11
kind of got to the point where I was
01:13:12
like
01:13:13
right and like do I want to be good at
01:13:16
canoing at kaying or just finish my
01:13:21
studies and kind of like do go into a
01:13:23
normal job and do that kind of stuff uh
01:13:25
and I decided yeah I I wanted to be good
01:13:27
at peddling so I took a year off um and
01:13:29
actually moved up uh lived in um toonga
01:13:34
for the summer and then went to Europe
01:13:36
and did my like full first full season
01:13:38
on the um World Cup kind of tour um so
01:13:43
it's sort of that point where I was like
01:13:44
right training properly deciding to you
01:13:48
really kind of give it something um
01:13:51
before that it was obviously yeah it was
01:13:54
I was serious at school um and serious
01:13:56
when I went to UNI with training but it
01:13:58
was kind of like I was compromising a
01:14:00
lot yeah um so after that yeah I started
01:14:02
not not compromising so much but yeah I
01:14:05
think yeah I was always self-driven but
01:14:08
also like the community we had and Alex
01:14:10
and and Central was just awesome and um
01:14:14
yeah everyone was just it's just like a
01:14:15
big family and everyone wants to support
01:14:18
and um and and go enjoy things together
01:14:21
so you was so much greater today yeah
01:14:24
yeah yeah have to cuz
01:14:27
like so many so many people have been a
01:14:32
part of creating well like helping me
01:14:36
grow up and be who I am and going to the
01:14:40
games and you know representing New
01:14:42
Zealand and and getting that that gold
01:14:44
medal that but a lot of the time it
01:14:46
wasn't for that like no one's kind of
01:14:50
like especially in Alex like no one's
01:14:53
there supporting this kid because he
01:14:57
might be a child prodigy and he could go
01:14:59
and win the Olympics one day it's just
01:15:01
like oh you like pedling oh come with us
01:15:04
you know like we'll we'll put you up
01:15:06
we'll bring you to the Skippers Canyon
01:15:09
or whatever for the weekend and oh yeah
01:15:12
yeah come in our car do whatever it's
01:15:15
just yeah it's all part of it it's just
01:15:17
like why people do the sport so yeah all
01:15:21
those people like yeah couldn't have
01:15:24
done it without them for sure a such a
01:15:25
cool um aspect of like Regional or
01:15:27
provinal New Zealand just that sort of
01:15:30
um real Community energy and it's like
01:15:32
sort of like what you were talking about
01:15:33
with um sge before it's um yeah it was
01:15:36
just about having fun and getting
01:15:38
amongst it so you you were um so your
01:15:41
dad used to do Coast to Coast events and
01:15:43
stuff God knows how he F fit in the
01:15:44
training for that honestly I have no
01:15:47
idea um juggling young kids are weding
01:15:51
business and trying to train for the
01:15:54
coast to coast like a multiport event
01:15:56
cuz you got to juggle you know multiple
01:15:58
disciplines as well um yeah I have no
01:16:00
idea but yeah he did I don't know a few
01:16:04
Coast to coasts um few few of the one
01:16:07
day ones as well so I went and support
01:16:09
crew with them when I was a little
01:16:11
little Grom standing on the side of the
01:16:13
river like I think his actual saw crew
01:16:16
said oh here's his kayak you know just
01:16:18
stand by his kak and when he comes he'll
01:16:20
W he'll be able to find that cuz he'll
01:16:21
see you and I just I don't know how I
01:16:24
out was just standing by his kite just
01:16:26
waiting for him to to turn up so
01:16:30
yeah did he go right um if he was doing
01:16:34
the longest day he must have been okay
01:16:35
that's no joke yeah yeah he was he was
01:16:38
pretty good um you know like he he
01:16:40
didn't win or anything but um yeah he
01:16:42
was a pretty I think he was a pretty
01:16:43
good athlete when he was younger he he's
01:16:45
he grew up on on the North Shore
01:16:47
actually in Oakland and he was really
01:16:49
into his Athletics he was a runner so um
01:16:52
so you why did you so you you know
01:16:55
you've got this um this Dad who's a
01:16:57
great role model and you see him doing
01:16:59
um you know training for the coast to
01:17:00
coast why why did you gra gravitate
01:17:02
towards the kayak and not like cycling
01:17:04
or say running
01:17:07
um well I don't really know I think you
01:17:10
hate running don't you not a
01:17:12
fan go goats pass J I bet you my coach
01:17:16
told you that so um no so we always had
01:17:21
like kayaks around and bikes as well but
01:17:24
um I think I don't know if that's what
01:17:28
Dad liked more but we I remember when I
01:17:31
was real real young going up to Lake
01:17:33
dunon and um you know they'd put me in
01:17:35
the kayak and tie a piece of string to
01:17:37
it and then I'd just like poted my way
01:17:39
out and pull me back in back reel me
01:17:41
back in yes um so I suppose like that
01:17:44
was always there um and then I think it
01:17:46
was like Mary and gardy um gy Rainer um
01:17:51
I think they were like family friends of
01:17:53
ours and and that's where the kaying
01:17:56
really started I think um I was kind of
01:17:59
into all the sports you know just doing
01:18:01
all sorts of random stuff at at when I
01:18:04
was younger at primary school and then
01:18:06
yeah just went along with a group of
01:18:07
friends and Mary and Gordy kind of
01:18:10
brought us along to that novice salum
01:18:12
and that was the the kaying thing and um
01:18:15
I don't know I I remember saving up my
01:18:18
pocket money for a while to buy a road
01:18:20
bike um because I I was like I really
01:18:23
want to do Road cycling and then
01:18:25
I bought it finally and then rode it a
01:18:28
couple times with Dad around the roads
01:18:30
and then I think I just got real scared
01:18:31
of all the cars on the roads so and then
01:18:33
basically never just like threw that one
01:18:35
in but a lot of my good friends were
01:18:37
really really good at Road cycling um
01:18:39
down in Alex and yeah don't know just
01:18:42
kaying was just what what grabbed me and
01:18:45
I just loved it so yeah how much of it
01:18:48
is natural Talent versus hard work um
01:18:52
there must be some sort of natural
01:18:53
ability there do you think yeah I don't
01:18:55
know it's funny because you said like
01:18:57
about Dad but like Mom is the most
01:19:01
um like she's not competitive at all
01:19:05
like not one bit she does not care at
01:19:08
all so it's funny that I got into
01:19:11
competitive sport um but yeah I don't
01:19:15
know I guess the natural Talent is
01:19:17
probably just
01:19:19
from being like around kayaks and water
01:19:24
and likeu starting at a young age and
01:19:26
getting exposed to different
01:19:28
environments and different rivers and um
01:19:31
that kind of stuff I don't like I don't
01:19:32
really know if it's natural or just you
01:19:35
know it's just a product of who who's
01:19:38
been looking after you and who's been
01:19:40
teaching you and um where you've been
01:19:42
and um I think you developed those
01:19:46
skills at a really young age and I think
01:19:48
I was pretty lucky to start doing stuff
01:19:50
when I was like nine or 10 um and start
01:19:54
going and um getting taken up into
01:19:57
Skippers Canyon or down the Roaring M or
01:20:00
that kind of stuff and um yeah I think
01:20:02
that's probably the natural talent but
01:20:03
then the hard work comes in definitely
01:20:07
cuz you know that can only take you to
01:20:10
to a certain level and um yeah like once
01:20:12
you get get want to get above that and
01:20:16
get in with the best in the world then
01:20:17
you've got to be you got to be working
01:20:19
hard yet no one no one has ever stood on
01:20:22
the top of the Olympic Podium with the
01:20:24
gold medal around the neck just on
01:20:25
natural Talent it's so by the way I I
01:20:28
never realized um roaring Mig was like a
01:20:30
it's my favorite red wine yeah yeah well
01:20:33
that's a fun fact yeah it's a section um
01:20:36
on the Kara River um on the in the yeah
01:20:39
in The Gorge between um Queens down and
01:20:41
crom so roaring mags a creek um and a a
01:20:45
power station and yeah we kak that
01:20:48
section below the power station you and
01:20:50
me are very different so you think of it
01:20:51
as a place to kak I think it as a fine
01:20:53
drop it is a good it is a good rewind
01:20:56
fantastic um oh have you been back to
01:20:59
your your schools since you won the gold
01:21:01
medal yeah yeah I did well yeah so when
01:21:03
I came back straight after the games I
01:21:05
was in Oakland a little bit and then I
01:21:07
shot down to to Alex for a few days and
01:21:09
yeah went into my old Primary School
01:21:11
Alex primary um and my high school dunon
01:21:14
High and um and then a few other primary
01:21:17
schools around the area and like that
01:21:19
was super super special like just being
01:21:23
I would have be an inspiration for some
01:21:25
of those kids was pretty cool cuz um
01:21:29
also Dunston High by the way uh School
01:21:31
motto is um seek wisdom in I mean what
01:21:34
the what the hell yeah yeah it's pretty
01:21:36
cool like U and actually we got like a
01:21:40
an old uh friends Snapchat Group which
01:21:43
we don't really use because I sort of
01:21:45
grown out of Snapchats but um but it was
01:21:49
funny when I was in doping control
01:21:50
straight after the race I just like took
01:21:52
a photo of me with my middle and sent it
01:21:54
to that group and said like seek wisdom
01:21:57
is gold and then the boys were just so
01:22:00
were just fizzing uh they thought it was
01:22:01
so cool and um it's funny that the the
01:22:05
motto is s wisdom has got I mean it's a
01:22:08
a big gold mining area back I was what
01:22:10
what it means is that what it is is it a
01:22:12
not to the the gold mining history yeah
01:22:14
so all of like basically all of
01:22:16
Alexandra um in central tiger was pretty
01:22:18
much built on on the back of gold mining
01:22:20
um back in the day so that's a nod to
01:22:23
that yeah man that's so cool who who did
01:22:26
who did you have when you were growing
01:22:27
up like who who did you look up to um in
01:22:30
terms of um like famous people or Sports
01:22:32
people um I think actually Conley asked
01:22:35
me this the other day because uh I think
01:22:37
mine was Hamish Carter oh yeah yeah yeah
01:22:41
so jez where where did we win gold and
01:22:43
silver was that um Sydney 2000 no uh I
01:22:47
think a he he won a gold medal beon dock
01:22:50
he won a silver I think I was yeah I
01:22:52
would have been like nine um so probably
01:22:55
at that age where I was kind of like
01:22:57
starting into sport sort of thing and
01:22:59
yeah I remember that I remember watching
01:23:01
it it was pretty epic so yeah kind of
01:23:04
it's hard to um imagine or know the
01:23:06
impact it has on those kids yeah you
01:23:08
know I don't know I'm from I'm from
01:23:10
palas North which is a it's a it's a
01:23:12
city but it's a it's a small City and um
01:23:15
you know you you I suppose you you put
01:23:17
limitations on what you think you can do
01:23:19
when you're from a smaller place
01:23:20
definitely um so for these kids to see
01:23:22
you there with a gold medal and you know
01:23:24
it's your region yeah um it probably
01:23:26
shows that there are no limits in a way
01:23:28
yeah it's yeah it's definitely pretty
01:23:30
cool and like I remember um Barbara
01:23:32
Kendall coming to our I think she came
01:23:34
to our primary school and like still
01:23:38
remembering that now was quite cool and
01:23:40
I saw her in Paris and we had a yarn and
01:23:42
I was like you you came to my primary
01:23:44
school like you were part of the
01:23:47
inspiration kind of to to do Sport and
01:23:50
now I like have the privilege to be able
01:23:54
to do that and especially in my region
01:23:58
it's pretty special cuz yeah I think um
01:24:02
you know the kids there they probably
01:24:05
don't know it but they they are growing
01:24:07
up in a pretty cool area of New Zealand
01:24:10
and um there's a lot of opportunities um
01:24:14
down there that to live in that place is
01:24:17
is pretty special and um yeah to be able
01:24:19
to see that someone from there can
01:24:21
actually go um to the highest level and
01:24:24
and Achieve and Nicole Shields cyclist
01:24:27
from Clyde same same high school as me
01:24:30
um she won a silver in in Paris as well
01:24:32
and like having two from the same school
01:24:36
from that that tiny little area is U is
01:24:38
pretty cool yeah so I think that's
01:24:42
honestly that's like the most special
01:24:43
thing is when um people or kids or
01:24:47
whatever said you know oh we got up
01:24:50
early and watched you it was awesome
01:24:52
like we were supporting you and like
01:24:54
that is the coolest thing to be able to
01:24:56
see that and then see the inspiration in
01:24:58
their in their eyes you know like um
01:25:01
that they just yeah will be inspired to
01:25:05
do something um if one person goes and
01:25:07
does Sport or picks up a pedal and goes
01:25:09
King then man from that then I'm I'm
01:25:12
pretty happy oh it's so meaningful for
01:25:14
sure um oh yeah what about you've
01:25:17
mentioned Courtney a couple of times
01:25:18
yeah so who is she where did you guys
01:25:19
meet is she in the scene yeah she is
01:25:22
yeah so she's a she's a kak as well so
01:25:24
um we met through that yeah yeah she's
01:25:26
good so she races on the uh on the
01:25:29
senior team on the World Cups and and
01:25:31
World Champs and um just missed out on
01:25:34
obviously she was behind Luca um in the
01:25:37
stylum but there was a like a last
01:25:40
chance regetta sort of thing for um just
01:25:43
the K cross um so she was going for that
01:25:46
but it didn't didn't work out um this
01:25:48
time but yeah
01:25:50
she's hopefully going to going to keep
01:25:52
plugging away and and try to get to so
01:25:55
well she's got a pretty good
01:25:56
Mentor yeah I know if she listens to me
01:26:00
no she's awesome she's um yeah she's
01:26:02
from toonga so I think basically when I
01:26:05
was kind of at high school or whatever
01:26:09
um the two main areas were Central Taro
01:26:12
and and bay plen um for kaying and so
01:26:15
yeah she's from kind of that Hub um
01:26:18
through there so yeah we met I don't
01:26:21
know a few years after leaving school
01:26:23
and yeah oh so you've been together for
01:26:25
ages yeah a while yeah are you engaged
01:26:28
no no she keeps getting me the hints
01:26:32
but yeah no we'll see um what is that
01:26:36
what does we'll see Ohad we lead busy
01:26:39
lives nah she's she's awesome um she was
01:26:43
saying well she was like I was looking
01:26:46
for kind of after the games you know
01:26:48
she's like I'll be your manager um but
01:26:51
she keeps saying oh my rate's 50% % yeah
01:26:55
50% cut or 45% cut she's said I'll do 40
01:26:59
but there's got to be a ring so yeah
01:27:03
she's pretty funny but that's a tough
01:27:04
negotiation she she's a hard ask but um
01:27:08
yeah she's cool so I was down at um her
01:27:11
with her at her at her parents house at
01:27:13
the mount um last week just just hanging
01:27:16
out so she's working and training as
01:27:19
well what's her job uh she does like
01:27:22
marketing social media at signature home
01:27:25
to oh cool yeah yeah so she can do that
01:27:28
um overseas which has been really good
01:27:31
so she can kind of like keep plugging
01:27:33
away and working parttime and while
01:27:35
she's away cuz that's like the hardest
01:27:37
thing for
01:27:38
us is being able to do like earn money
01:27:42
while you're overseas CU you know it's
01:27:46
got to pay for somehow so um she's
01:27:48
worked out with them that she can she
01:27:50
can do stuff online which is pretty cool
01:27:52
oh yeah that's good yeah big to
01:27:54
Signature Homes that's really bloody
01:27:56
lovely yeah that's cool yeah I think you
01:27:58
should yeah we need to acknowledge like
01:27:59
workplaces that do that that are
01:28:01
accommodating like that what what about
01:28:03
you um financially you get looked after
01:28:05
by high performance sport or do you have
01:28:06
some good sponsors or yeah yeah so um
01:28:09
obviously on the on the back of um on
01:28:12
the back of the games there's a few more
01:28:14
opportunities coming through which is
01:28:15
pretty cool but yeah we're kind of in
01:28:18
the period at the moment um which
01:28:20
happens at the end of every Olympic
01:28:22
cycle where um all the sports kind of
01:28:26
set their next four-year plan or um and
01:28:30
to the next games and set all the
01:28:33
budgets and and apply for everything
01:28:35
through high performance sport um so
01:28:37
we're kind of in that like limbo phase
01:28:39
at the moment where all those
01:28:41
conversations are happening and um and
01:28:43
things so my coach and I were basically
01:28:47
yeah working on that a lot in the last
01:28:50
few weeks and then got that all in and
01:28:52
um that kind of having meetings and
01:28:54
stuff now so basically yeah high
01:28:57
performance sport um will be big
01:28:59
supporter and then yeah there's a few
01:29:01
other few other things coming in um I
01:29:05
don't know if we can talk about it talk
01:29:08
about it but um yeah I don't know what
01:29:11
what are youing we
01:29:13
talk the G one yeah the the big G oh
01:29:16
let's talk okay you know by the time
01:29:17
this comes out that'll that'll all be
01:29:19
sign um yeah generate uh the Kiwi saver
01:29:22
scheme who are sponsors of my podc
01:29:24
um they've just um Inked you as a
01:29:27
sponsor yeah yeah um which is so they
01:29:29
are awesome they are awesome they are
01:29:30
such a great uh company to work with
01:29:32
yeah fantastic so they how did that
01:29:34
relationship come about um actually uh
01:29:38
one of the king parents um saw their ads
01:29:43
on on TV I guess the um we love a kiwi
01:29:46
first um and having to be on like
01:29:48
straight after um I won the the gold
01:29:52
medal and yeah they kind of were like oh
01:29:54
you know like her her Sports Marketing
01:29:57
mind kind of went into overdrive and
01:29:59
then yeah they they just reached out and
01:30:02
um yeah started the conversation with
01:30:03
with generate and and they've been
01:30:05
really cool and I'm looking forward to
01:30:07
to working with them a bit more and um
01:30:10
yeah hopefully bringing out some cool
01:30:11
stuff so oh they are great that's such a
01:30:12
good story yeah cool the chance of um
01:30:15
like reaching out to them and them going
01:30:17
yeah sure why not it's amazing it's
01:30:20
pretty cool and um yeah just from I mean
01:30:22
the the the few conversations
01:30:24
that we've had so far they're pretty
01:30:26
cool and obviously they've been a big
01:30:28
supporter of yours for a while now which
01:30:29
is also epic so they've been
01:30:32
instrumental in helping grow the podcast
01:30:34
this year it's been amazing and that's
01:30:35
such cool people to work with um oh I
01:30:40
forgot to ask about the um the closing
01:30:42
ceremony so you're FL you're yourself
01:30:44
and Dame Lisa um flag bearers at the
01:30:47
closing ceremony yeah so who asked you
01:30:49
to do that is it the shift to Mission
01:30:50
yeah yeah so Shi Mission um [ __ ] ay
01:30:54
so he called
01:30:57
me um Courtney and I actually were about
01:31:01
to go into the Val Drome to watch um
01:31:03
some of the track cycling which was like
01:31:05
maybe two or three two days before the
01:31:09
the closing um and yeah so he called me
01:31:11
and and yeah basically asked if I'd um
01:31:15
if I'd carry the flag um for for New
01:31:18
Zealand and man it was obviously a
01:31:20
no-brainer for me um it was a pretty
01:31:23
special moment to be able to um spend a
01:31:26
bit of time with with Dame liser and um
01:31:29
and share the the flag carrying um
01:31:32
walking out into that the middle of stud
01:31:34
to France with I don't know 80 odd
01:31:36
thousand people um and there was yeah it
01:31:39
was it was pretty cool and definitely
01:31:42
something I'll never forget but um the
01:31:43
closing ceremony was funny it was a bit
01:31:45
of a [ __ ] show I think was it in what
01:31:47
way oh like we were out there and so we
01:31:49
we like walk out with the flag and then
01:31:51
all the flags are kind of like around
01:31:53
the St stadium in the middle and then
01:31:55
the teams come out
01:31:58
um out the two entrances or whatever you
01:32:01
know the tunnels and we were kind of
01:32:03
like okay cool they're going to come in
01:32:05
numerical order oh not numerical
01:32:07
alphabetical order um you know like the
01:32:09
opening ceremony and so we were sort of
01:32:11
waiting and trying to figure out like
01:32:13
hold on this order is not like the right
01:32:17
order what's going on here we're just
01:32:19
waiting for New Zealand to come out and
01:32:21
then they finally after a while couldn't
01:32:24
they just didn't come out and then they
01:32:26
were like okay we need to take your flag
01:32:29
now to like continue the ceremony you
01:32:31
guys go find your team and we were like
01:32:33
the team's not here and so we just me
01:32:36
and Le were just like chilling out like
01:32:38
cool and finally the kiwis came out and
01:32:41
I think they'd been like I think I don't
01:32:43
know all the order was just stuffed and
01:32:45
they had been like stuck in a traffic
01:32:46
jam at the back of the in the tunnel and
01:32:48
it was like 40° inside this tunnel and
01:32:51
they'd all come out and they were just
01:32:52
drenched and S like they've been waiting
01:32:55
for ages but it was it was pretty cool
01:32:58
um yeah CU this is where they um they do
01:33:00
this s of Handover so it's uh signifies
01:33:02
the end of the Paris Olympics and the um
01:33:04
the buildup to um La 2028 so they had um
01:33:08
Chili Peppers there yeah so there were
01:33:11
we had like been hearing rumors about oh
01:33:15
like you know whatever's going to happen
01:33:16
at the closing ceremony and where Snoop
01:33:18
Dog was obviously at the games like the
01:33:21
whole time yeah rolling around with
01:33:22
Martha Martha Stewart doing all sorts of
01:33:24
stuff and we were like surely Snoop
01:33:26
Dog's going to perform at the closing
01:33:27
ceremony and we'd heard like that Tom
01:33:30
Cruz was going to like parachuting or
01:33:33
repell and what she did in the end um
01:33:36
and the Chili's and someone else I think
01:33:40
but um they ended up just performing
01:33:43
they were performing in LA and we just
01:33:45
watched them on the screen so it was
01:33:47
like a bit I was like damn Snoop Dog's
01:33:49
been here the whole time and then he
01:33:51
flew back to LA and performed with Dr D
01:33:54
in LA on the screen so um but yeah
01:33:57
basically what happened was like they
01:33:58
kind of close off the Paris part and
01:34:01
then um Tom Cruz like repelled in off
01:34:04
the stadium roof and kind of took the
01:34:08
Olympic flag and honed out on his
01:34:09
motorbike and then it changed to being
01:34:11
on the TV of him taking the flag to LA
01:34:15
and then they performed there so um yeah
01:34:19
it was it was kind of funny but I think
01:34:21
for La like man it's going to be
01:34:24
the Americans will just do something
01:34:27
bigger and better than anyone before
01:34:29
because that's what they do in America
01:34:31
well I'm um I'm so much older than you
01:34:33
but one of my um enduring memories as
01:34:35
being like 11 years old and um that's
01:34:37
when the 84 games were on in LA and um
01:34:40
some dude came in in a jet pack and I
01:34:42
was like this is the [ __ ]
01:34:44
future um yeah CU me goosebumps just
01:34:47
thinking imagine what it's going to be
01:34:49
like in four years incredible and I've
01:34:51
heard you say you're going to be a
01:34:53
different Beast quote in LA in years
01:34:55
time what do you mean um how can you get
01:34:58
better or how can you build on what
01:34:59
you've done yeah well I think the cool
01:35:01
thing is I'm definitely not um where I
01:35:07
think I can get to um so there's a lot
01:35:10
of things I mean obviously we're talking
01:35:12
about that puzzle again like things are
01:35:14
changing um obviously like I've got
01:35:17
different views of myself people have
01:35:19
got different views of me now that I've
01:35:21
got a a gold medal so that changes quite
01:35:24
a lot so yeah we've obviously going to
01:35:26
keep working on that and um yeah I want
01:35:29
to be the best in the world in slum as
01:35:32
well as the best in the world in kite
01:35:34
cross so yeah I think there's a few
01:35:37
things kind of that we that we can can
01:35:40
Target and and figure out but um yeah
01:35:43
it's a lot of hard work probably between
01:35:46
definitely between now and LA but I'm
01:35:48
looking forward to it and I think just
01:35:51
being able to go pedling every day and
01:35:55
uh and work hard and keep trying to
01:35:56
figure out the little technical things
01:35:58
that are going to help me improve and
01:36:01
and um keep that mindset taken over and
01:36:04
work on that I think it's uh yeah it's a
01:36:07
privilege to be able to do it so I'm
01:36:09
really looking forward to the next four
01:36:11
years like I'll probably have a little
01:36:13
bit more of a break now and um probably
01:36:14
when November rolls around I'll be
01:36:16
ripping back into it but yeah I think
01:36:19
probably when I said different Beast I I
01:36:21
just meant like yeah
01:36:24
mentally everything's going to be
01:36:26
different I'm four years older four
01:36:27
years more experienced um I've had a
01:36:31
games behind me already so I know a bit
01:36:33
more about how to prepare and and what
01:36:36
worked what didn't work and um yeah we
01:36:39
can kind of build on that um cuz yeah
01:36:42
experience is you know it's Priceless
01:36:45
and um to be able to learn from our last
01:36:49
campaign and and be able to go into the
01:36:51
next one with um a different perspective
01:36:54
is is pretty cool and pretty exciting so
01:36:56
yeah looking forward to it and what
01:36:58
about the um the pressure now not just I
01:37:00
mean you know from a competitive point
01:37:02
of view I suppose you've got a Target on
01:37:03
your back now because you're the gold
01:37:05
medal guy but also um the public
01:37:06
pressure as
01:37:08
well yeah I mean does it does it um like
01:37:11
does it does it when you think about it
01:37:13
too much do you find it daunting or um
01:37:16
they say pre prees a privilege but yeah
01:37:18
also preure can be overwhelming a little
01:37:20
bit yeah um I think think our
01:37:25
like I guess it goes two ways like in
01:37:27
New Zealand now um people sort of know
01:37:31
our Sport and and what we do and and who
01:37:33
I am and what what I do and that kind of
01:37:35
thing so but on a on a world stage our
01:37:38
Sports still it's still pretty like
01:37:41
small and hidden but um
01:37:44
so I don't know I honestly like haven't
01:37:47
really thought too much about it I think
01:37:49
in general like the New Zealand Public
01:37:52
and media and everyone is
01:37:53
just
01:37:55
um it's pretty stoked that they can just
01:37:59
have someone who's who's good at good at
01:38:02
a a a sport that I think people have
01:38:04
been enjoying watching um and I suppose
01:38:08
it's not like you know like not like the
01:38:10
All Blacks where it's like the national
01:38:11
identity kind of rides on it which is
01:38:14
quite good for me cuz um yeah I don't
01:38:17
know where that way that would sit me
01:38:18
but um yeah I
01:38:21
mean I don't know I haven't thought too
01:38:23
much about it but we we'll see it might
01:38:25
be like I say like it's it's always
01:38:27
changing the the picture and um might
01:38:31
have to have a good few more sessions
01:38:33
with the with the mental skills trainer
01:38:36
sports like and uh yeah and and picture
01:38:40
what it's going to be like but I know
01:38:41
whatever whatever you're doing um yeah
01:38:43
just don't don't mess with it don't
01:38:45
tamper with it it's um it's it's working
01:38:48
yeah but I mean at the same time like
01:38:50
you can't just do the same thing and
01:38:51
expect it's going to get the same result
01:38:53
so we're always just going to try to to
01:38:56
keep building and if we we make a plan
01:38:59
and um think it's going to think it's
01:39:01
going to work and and and do that and
01:39:03
for some reason it doesn't work out then
01:39:05
you know you've got to be accepting that
01:39:08
that's what you wanted to do and you
01:39:10
trusted that plan and um the result will
01:39:12
be what it will be but um man I'm yeah
01:39:16
I'm excited I can tell I can tell I I
01:39:19
think part of the reason um I don't know
01:39:22
I'm speculating here but I think part of
01:39:23
the reason like New Zealand was so happy
01:39:25
for you is um you know cuz you you
01:39:27
seemed like genuinely excited and so so
01:39:30
humble as well and so grateful for the
01:39:32
community around you that we've um we've
01:39:34
talked about so all these little factors
01:39:36
and you know yeah yeah I think as well
01:39:38
like kind of I guess not many people
01:39:40
knew
01:39:41
about kite cross like a bit a bit about
01:39:44
slum from from Luca kind of um being
01:39:47
around but um man K cross is such a good
01:39:50
spectator sport and like uh like Mo said
01:39:54
like oh make it the national sport
01:39:56
because um people love it there's
01:39:58
something kiwi about like a better of a
01:40:00
better
01:40:01
Ari head-to head and um I don't know
01:40:05
there's like the excitement of of
01:40:07
someone just just getting stuck into it
01:40:09
so yeah I think um yeah hopefully we can
01:40:14
kind of build off that and have a few a
01:40:16
few events in New Zealand and and get
01:40:18
some get some good guys down here and um
01:40:21
show it to the public in in real life
01:40:23
cuz it's pretty fun and pretty fun to
01:40:25
watch as well yeah and like there's some
01:40:28
sports you watch and you think I could I
01:40:29
could give that a crack yeah yeah which
01:40:31
is like completely misguided but you do
01:40:33
you do think that but um like cycling
01:40:36
for example most people think oh yeah I
01:40:37
can ride a bike I um but you sp I don't
01:40:40
think anyone would watch that think oh
01:40:41
yeah I could probably be quite quite
01:40:43
good at that like there's so much going
01:40:44
on yeah yeah there is a lot I mean it's
01:40:48
um yeah it's probably something that you
01:40:51
you start when you're well for me I
01:40:53
start when I was young and it just
01:40:56
becomes like sick nature um but
01:40:59
definitely like even like in ockland
01:41:02
we've got the Victor Widow White Water
01:41:04
Park in Monaco and like you know they
01:41:07
have kaying lessons there and um it
01:41:10
actually is something that you can just
01:41:12
give a go you might not be able to slide
01:41:14
off the ramp on your first attempt on
01:41:16
your first You Know lesson or whatever
01:41:17
but um you know eventually you will be
01:41:20
able to and you can and um there's a few
01:41:23
you know these clubs kind of all around
01:41:25
the country in U it might be Flatwater
01:41:27
king or surf ski or um Can po or
01:41:32
anything like that but or Whitewater for
01:41:34
sure um but yeah there's there's kind of
01:41:37
ways and then a games has just been um
01:41:40
in in toonga and like they had heaps of
01:41:43
kids up there and it's kind of like the
01:41:45
first entry into into pedling and um so
01:41:48
it's definitely something you can give a
01:41:50
go but um yeah like I say you might not
01:41:52
slide off the ramp for your first dve
01:41:54
might not be next to Finn in8 we can
01:41:56
send you off the ramp if you wanted to
01:41:58
have a go Tom I remember I was on the
01:42:01
whenever um it was that SRA Walker went
01:42:04
to the games and won a silver medal for
01:42:05
the BMX um I was on the radio at the
01:42:07
time and we did a thing afterwards where
01:42:10
um I joined her at the her training
01:42:12
where the track where she trains at and
01:42:15
um that that ramp on BMX it's it's it's
01:42:18
terrifying so scary and you see Sarah
01:42:20
Walker and the other BMX is like when
01:42:22
that gate goes down they they ped to get
01:42:24
extra speed yeah um I went down it with
01:42:27
like the brakes on yeah and the wheels
01:42:28
are tiny you feel like you're just
01:42:30
riding like a kids bike yeah um is there
01:42:33
anything that we we haven't talked about
01:42:34
today that you were hoping to touch upon
01:42:39
uh I don't know really no I remember one
01:42:42
of my mates yesterday I don't know did
01:42:44
you get some good questions on the oh
01:42:46
someone else been um I feel like this is
01:42:48
an inside one from a friend asked me to
01:42:49
ask you about mowing the Lawns yeah yeah
01:42:51
that's what I was thinking in my head
01:42:53
yeah yeah how long did it take to mow
01:42:55
the laws yeah because obviously so the
01:42:58
the orchard Garden which is the the um
01:43:02
wedding and Cafe function Center that my
01:43:04
parents ran um it has a a massive Garden
01:43:09
which they built you know that was kind
01:43:11
of their passion um the garden the the
01:43:14
weddings and stuff was sort of like just
01:43:16
a a thing to help that run um and they
01:43:20
had a they they planted a big hedge maze
01:43:23
um and so yeah like Blake who who would
01:43:26
have asked that question he he used to
01:43:28
work for us or for my parents and um he
01:43:31
did a lot of lawn moing but basically I
01:43:34
said to him I said the best way to
01:43:36
answer that question is when you finish
01:43:39
you start
01:43:40
again oh my God so it's like it's just
01:43:43
con like it's never ending it's never
01:43:46
ending just CU it's so so much and like
01:43:49
Dad dad being like just super busy would
01:43:52
probably just pump out in you know a
01:43:54
couple days or something but um anyone
01:43:56
else mowing at a normal Pace would uh
01:43:59
yeah would start again as soon as they
01:44:01
done but there for some reason I never
01:44:03
understood it when I was a kid there was
01:44:05
always like a refusal to get a ride on
01:44:07
and so everything was just a push mower
01:44:10
what was it was it do was it lack of
01:44:12
money or they were likely to spend the
01:44:13
money I think it probably was I think
01:44:16
yeah just they'd rather just just uh
01:44:20
walk or or half half run and mow The
01:44:23
Lawns rather than uh yeah sit on a ride
01:44:25
on and do it so um yeah it was but it's
01:44:29
a it's an awesome little um little place
01:44:32
that they built down there and it was
01:44:34
pretty emotional when they when they
01:44:35
sold up but at the same time you like I
01:44:37
said earlier seeing them retired now and
01:44:40
and not having to to deal with the
01:44:42
hospitality side of things is is pretty
01:44:44
cool so yeah um but anything else I
01:44:47
don't know I think um probably probably
01:44:51
all good on my side oh um yeah one fun
01:44:55
one for me oh actually no there's a c
01:44:57
there there's a couple away if I forget
01:45:00
remind me to ask about Shan Johnson and
01:45:02
with oh yeah um what advice would you
01:45:04
give someone who's just starting out in
01:45:05
slayem canoing and um ideally wants to
01:45:08
compete at a at a high level um maybe
01:45:11
someone that's like jumped on the
01:45:12
bandwagon as a result of you winning
01:45:13
yeah gold um oh I think probably just
01:45:18
like keep sticking at it um I think
01:45:21
there's a lot of resilience that um one
01:45:25
I've kind of learned and and built but
01:45:27
also had to show um quite a few times of
01:45:30
of you know like when you get knocked
01:45:33
down and and you come back up again it's
01:45:35
like all the time um there's there's
01:45:38
struggles and challenges and all that
01:45:40
kind of stuff so probably that but also
01:45:43
um if you're passionate about it just
01:45:45
like keep feeding that passion um and
01:45:48
get out there and do it sometimes it's
01:45:51
you know like we talked about earlier
01:45:53
like sometimes there's times where
01:45:55
you're like I just can't be [ __ ] today
01:45:57
or like I'm tired or whatever but if
01:46:00
you're really passionate about it and it
01:46:01
kind of goes with anything right like
01:46:03
sport academics business whatever if
01:46:06
you're passionate about it really just
01:46:09
lean into that passion because it's
01:46:11
never a
01:46:13
chore on the long in the long term if if
01:46:15
you're really passionate about it so um
01:46:19
that's probably another thing and just
01:46:21
and like have as much fun as you can
01:46:23
because sport in general is so fun to do
01:46:27
and like that's why we do it cuz it's
01:46:28
fun um that's why sport was invented and
01:46:32
I don't actually know I just made that
01:46:33
up but I'm I'm assuming like people just
01:46:36
people would just started playing games
01:46:37
so um like and like yeah it's just super
01:46:41
fun and um but as oppos I guess in terms
01:46:45
of actual
01:46:46
like I don't know um
01:46:50
advice um going yeah basically going go
01:46:53
and find a local Club um and yeah get
01:46:57
into it through them um or yeah reach
01:47:01
out like anyone just flick me a message
01:47:03
I'm happy to to point you in the right
01:47:05
direction or um we got a website can New
01:47:08
Zealand um it's our kind of national
01:47:10
Federation and I think there's a list of
01:47:12
clubs and stuff on there and um you can
01:47:14
get into it but any type of paddling
01:47:17
it's all good it's all fun and um
01:47:20
Oakland it's like really accessible to
01:47:21
go ocean SK pedling um so they've got a
01:47:24
few clubs here and they can go out in
01:47:26
the harbor on on flat day or super windy
01:47:29
and surf waves and all sorts of stuff so
01:47:32
all of it's fun and yeah I feel like
01:47:35
with the the the cracks of that answer
01:47:37
and the key message you you kind of
01:47:38
channeling sge in a way that's what he
01:47:40
would say to a young person through
01:47:42
right hopefully yeah yeah so yeah just
01:47:46
just love it like yeah whatever you do
01:47:49
just love it cuz um yeah I mean lots of
01:47:52
people have seen said to
01:47:53
me like you only get to try to be an
01:47:57
athlete once you know like once you get
01:48:00
a bit further along then you know I
01:48:02
might not have had the ability or
01:48:05
opportunity to to do what I do now so um
01:48:08
yeah if you're passionate about
01:48:09
something just make it happen and um and
01:48:11
love it and yeah I think you you
01:48:15
probably make some
01:48:16
sacrifices um and the financial side
01:48:20
definitely um but at the same time
01:48:23
you're you're you're paying for
01:48:24
something you love doing so it's is it
01:48:27
really a sacrifice yeah 100% great
01:48:30
answer thank you um now Shan Johnson so
01:48:33
he he does a podcast now um what's the
01:48:36
story someone told me to ask you this so
01:48:37
did he say he was going to give any
01:48:39
Olympic Athlete $1,000 or something what
01:48:42
what's the back story I think what they
01:48:44
were talking about is um how you know
01:48:48
like countries like aaban or or Qatar or
01:48:52
whatever they'll pay their Olympic
01:48:55
athletes or Olympic medalists likeus
01:48:57
huge one sums of money like you know
01:48:59
hundreds of thousands of dollars um if
01:49:02
they win or get a middle or whatever but
01:49:04
I guess that's you know like not many of
01:49:06
their athletes actually go on to win um
01:49:11
and I think they were talking about how
01:49:12
New Zealand pays nothing um so like we
01:49:16
don't really get a a lump some win bonus
01:49:20
um so I think that's kind of where it
01:49:22
started and he was like like n this is
01:49:23
not on like these guys are are awesome
01:49:26
of what they do and they're kind of you
01:49:28
know they're inspiring a nation and
01:49:29
stuff and he said I'm going to put my
01:49:30
money where my mouth is and and give any
01:49:33
of our individual gold medalists um a
01:49:37
th000 bucks I think he said individual
01:49:39
cuz the seven girls had just won and
01:49:41
he's like I don't want to Splash out a
01:49:43
th000 bucks to everyone on the team oh
01:49:45
you know a WhatsApp group chat as well
01:49:47
everyone be ling up even the reserves
01:49:49
yeah I think there was a bit there was a
01:49:51
bit of chat that went on there
01:49:53
um yeah and then I think like it was
01:49:55
like two days later that I won and then
01:49:58
people were commenting on my Instagram
01:50:00
posts or you know the New Zealand team
01:50:02
Instagram posts tagging him and being
01:50:04
like pay this man's money and all this
01:50:05
stuff and I was kind of like what's
01:50:07
going on here like and then I finally
01:50:10
clicked and I don't know where I found
01:50:11
it it just popped up on on Instagram or
01:50:13
whatever um of him talking about it and
01:50:18
then so I was I commented just like an
01:50:21
emoji with the eyes like look sideways
01:50:23
and then like and then it was like oh
01:50:25
the buch has come to collect all this
01:50:28
stuff and then on the next week I think
01:50:30
um yeah he was like oh you know like I'd
01:50:33
love to have you in studio if you you
01:50:35
know to collect you got to come in
01:50:37
studio and and come and see us and like
01:50:39
so when I came back after the games I
01:50:41
went in and um and saw those guys and
01:50:43
and went on went on their podcast and it
01:50:45
was like pretty cool to see someone like
01:50:48
Shan Johnson or and you know like it's
01:50:51
cool like someone someone like you as
01:50:53
well being like super happy to to have
01:50:57
me in and and talk to me and like like
01:50:59
when I walked down Sean Johnson was
01:51:01
facing the other way and he like turned
01:51:03
around he's like just genuinely really
01:51:05
really excited to see me and um I think
01:51:08
I was their first guest on the their
01:51:09
podcast and like so he was just fizzing
01:51:11
and um yeah I think I don't know if uh
01:51:15
anyone else who won has been on been um
01:51:18
on with them to to collect their cash
01:51:20
but maybe he's closed the offer might he
01:51:23
might have shut down individual's only
01:51:25
offer expires October one yeah but those
01:51:28
guys are awesome and uh it was really
01:51:30
cool to meet them and um and yeah I
01:51:32
think it was just before his last game
01:51:33
with the with the Warriors so um you
01:51:36
hear he's making a comeback with the
01:51:38
keyw yeah man yeah incredible back into
01:51:39
it it's pretty cool so yeah I'm looking
01:51:42
forward to seeing how he goes um oh man
01:51:44
he's a he's a legend and he's he's done
01:51:47
uh done big things for the for the game
01:51:49
here
01:51:49
and um yeah it's just genuine nice guy
01:51:53
um and Brook as well so um that was
01:51:55
really cool to meet those those guys and
01:51:58
even caller to take us thousand bucks
01:52:00
yeah yeah even cool it to get that and
01:52:03
um it was yeah I mean so that thousand
01:52:06
bucks um will be going to to charity so
01:52:11
um my is is that your decision or yeah
01:52:14
yeah cool yeah so um you know like I
01:52:17
think well hopefully like I sort of said
01:52:20
we we're work working through a lot of
01:52:22
things at at the moment and um you know
01:52:24
hopefully pick up a few sponsorships and
01:52:25
stuff off the back of of Paris and um
01:52:28
you know that thousand bucks like my
01:52:29
Coach Works um at he works for kuu
01:52:34
racing like uh Flatwater um and he was
01:52:37
doing a big project on disability um
01:52:39
inclusion so did quite a lot of work
01:52:41
with um the hellberg foundation who um
01:52:44
yeah basically are in in that space so
01:52:48
um yeah I was I was kind of pretty Keen
01:52:51
to to put that money towards um
01:52:54
something where you know it can it can
01:52:57
help get get some get some people into
01:53:00
sport um that might not be able to do it
01:53:03
otherwise without without them so I've
01:53:05
been down to the lake um Lake puki um
01:53:08
with Aaron my coach um when he's when
01:53:10
he's had a
01:53:11
few um people with disabilities um
01:53:15
kaying and man it's pretty cool to see
01:53:17
like the Joy on their face that it gives
01:53:19
them and yeah if that can be small help
01:53:23
in that then yeah that's where it's
01:53:24
going so I'm pretty yeah I'm pretty
01:53:26
pleased to to be able to give it to them
01:53:28
for sure [ __ ] you love your work don't
01:53:30
you you love what you do yeah I mean
01:53:32
it's like yeah I don't I'm just lucky
01:53:35
like yeah to be able to do it cuz it's
01:53:38
yeah it's just fun and like it's just
01:53:42
honestly there's people that aon's um
01:53:45
taking peddling who you know can only
01:53:47
move from you know from from the neck
01:53:51
down up can't move from the neck down
01:53:53
sorry and you know they only can move
01:53:55
their arms with just some small muscles
01:53:58
in their shoulders basically and he's
01:54:00
taking them pedling and it's just like
01:54:02
it's just a sense of freedom and I guess
01:54:04
some sort of normality as well where and
01:54:06
they just you know just love it and it's
01:54:10
seeing that is pretty special um so yeah
01:54:14
hopefully we can share it with more
01:54:16
people well I was going to um finish the
01:54:18
episode and do this as a separate thing
01:54:20
um but since you B up the charity angle
01:54:21
we'll just um finished with this so um
01:54:24
generate who now sponsor you and have
01:54:26
been um amazing sponsors of my podcast
01:54:29
for over a year now they've given me a
01:54:31
sum of $220,000 to give to various
01:54:32
Charities and $500 increments yeah so
01:54:35
I've got a a few questions here about um
01:54:38
money Y and if you answer these 500
01:54:40
bucks will go to
01:54:43
to Foundation okay yeah brilliant sure
01:54:46
geez they'll be stoked with you eh 1,000
01:54:49
bucks from Sha yeah I imagine they need
01:54:51
uh a lot more than what I can give them
01:54:53
but if it if it goes into the pot and
01:54:55
helps a little bit then yeah I'll be
01:54:56
happy 100% okay Finn butcher best piece
01:54:59
of advice you've been given about money
01:55:02
oh
01:55:06
um it's a really good question don't
01:55:08
take up kaying yeah do not do not go
01:55:11
kaying try try golf first well that's
01:55:15
yeah um go running on S maybe just get a
01:55:18
pair of shoes uh oh I was listening to
01:55:22
um keep the change the other day off the
01:55:24
back of um oh L Kim's yeah um you
01:55:27
speaking to him so uh probably something
01:55:30
from him about around investing and um
01:55:32
you know just start off with the dollar
01:55:34
and um and start learning about it and
01:55:37
um yeah putting some some towards the
01:55:39
future I think yeah are you a spender or
01:55:41
a saver
01:55:42
spender well yeah kaying yeah I'm a
01:55:46
spender um what's your worst money
01:55:48
mistake oh uh there's got to be some
01:55:51
like a
01:55:52
like sinking a lot of money on piss
01:55:55
anden taking up
01:55:58
King I just I think all the answers are
01:56:00
just taking up K have you ever had like
01:56:02
a dumb car or anything you been a car um
01:56:06
oh like I I'm I think I'm reasonably
01:56:08
good with with spending on ridiculous
01:56:10
things cuz um a lot of the money that I
01:56:14
got was Mom and Dad's um and I saw the
01:56:18
sacrifice that they they gave to be able
01:56:21
to give me that money so um wasn't
01:56:24
ridiculously spending it but I think
01:56:26
probably yeah my course related costs
01:56:28
and denan were not related to the course
01:56:31
and the nobody's ever are yeah it's yeah
01:56:34
I suppose if you're taking money from
01:56:35
your parents you have to be like
01:56:36
respectful about it a because yeah yeah
01:56:38
well that's yeah I guess that's how I
01:56:39
approached it so um yeah it's probably
01:56:43
not the worst money mistake but yeah I'm
01:56:46
not very good at answering that sorry
01:56:49
does does money buy you happiness um
01:56:52
no but it did allow me to go King which
01:56:56
makes me happy so maybe it does yeah I
01:56:59
think I think these are like a base
01:57:01
level I mean if if anyone's lying awake
01:57:03
at night stressing about money that's
01:57:04
not a fun position to be for sure um but
01:57:06
you actually you you probably need a lot
01:57:08
less than what you potentially think
01:57:10
yeah I don't know I agree I think um I
01:57:12
think you know there's a there's a level
01:57:15
where where if you can survive and and
01:57:19
do what you want to do then you know
01:57:21
you'll be happy but there's a lot of
01:57:23
other aspects that come into happiness
01:57:24
that money can't solve so maybe it can
01:57:27
buy happiness but it also can't keep it
01:57:30
so and it cannot buy one of
01:57:35
these um what would you do if you woke
01:57:38
up tomorrow as a surprise
01:57:40
billionaire um I would pay off my
01:57:45
parents debts straight away um what they
01:57:48
got have they still got a mortgage or
01:57:50
uh yeah yeah I think so I'm yeah yeah
01:57:54
I'm not 100% sure but I think so um so
01:57:58
do that I would um probably yeah help
01:58:03
out some more Charities um and try to
01:58:06
see see people get into a bit more Sport
01:58:09
and then I would uh we talked about this
01:58:11
the other other day actually with
01:58:13
Courtney I'd build a white waterer
01:58:15
course off the Clyde Dam in my hometown
01:58:18
sick yeah so I've got like a dream in my
01:58:22
my head um of yeah having a a course off
01:58:26
the off the side of the Clyde Dam that
01:58:28
just runs all the time and we don't have
01:58:30
to pay for water cuz um you know when
01:58:33
you start paying for water things things
01:58:34
get pretty expensive so um yeah that
01:58:37
would be what would they cost um just a
01:58:40
rough stab in the dark like probably 15
01:58:44
to 20 15 mil maybe depends on a few
01:58:47
things but you should have asked Steven
01:58:48
Adams yeah half a year salary
01:58:53
yeah yeah for sure so I mean if there's
01:58:55
anyone out there that's listening to
01:58:56
this
01:58:57
podcast I've got a business plan in my
01:58:59
head I've got someone already lined up
01:59:02
to build the course we're away the Finn
01:59:04
butcher the Finn butcher white waterer
01:59:06
CER yeah yeah I'd probably name it the
01:59:09
Ellen Hoffman white would have seen it
01:59:12
but yeah oh man I got goosebumps what a
01:59:15
tribute that would be would be cool um
01:59:17
where would you like to
01:59:18
retire um probably in central Tigo yeah
01:59:22
I think I'll have to argue with Courtney
01:59:24
on that but yeah I definitely want to be
01:59:27
down South for sure best thing about
01:59:29
being a
01:59:30
kiwi
01:59:33
um oh I think our community
01:59:36
like yeah just being I think the
01:59:41
community that gets behind you is
01:59:44
absolutely amazing and um I think a lot
01:59:47
of other countries don't have that
01:59:48
connection with with the rest of the
01:59:50
population um people don't
01:59:52
know you don't know your story but
01:59:54
they're like man this guy's doing cool
01:59:55
things like we'll get behind him um I
01:59:59
think that and then yeah I think you
02:00:02
know it just gives us a different
02:00:03
perspective being from this side of the
02:00:05
world our country is pretty lucky to be
02:00:07
kind of Hidden Away down here and I
02:00:09
think it it probably brings a few
02:00:11
negative things uh financially as well
02:00:14
as as positives but um man we're we're
02:00:18
from a pretty cool place in the world so
02:00:21
yeah you that Community thing it's been
02:00:23
um it's been a big um a big point in
02:00:25
this podcast today it's a big rock for
02:00:27
sure and it's um it's really cool um
02:00:30
that you that you acknowledge that
02:00:31
because you know here you are you're a
02:00:32
high performance athlete you're a gold
02:00:33
medalist it' be easy for you to be so
02:00:36
zoned in and have that such
02:00:38
single-minded Focus that you've got sort
02:00:39
of blinders onto that yeah and maybe
02:00:41
acknowledge that later on once your
02:00:42
career is over but to to be in your late
02:00:44
20s and a gold medalist and being able
02:00:46
to see that and acknowledge it now yeah
02:00:48
um that's really cool mate yeah thank
02:00:50
you yeah I'm yeah I mean I said it a lot
02:00:53
but it just it's the only reason that
02:00:56
I'm here so yeah it's pretty special to
02:01:01
be able to acknowledge it on something
02:01:03
like this so yeah Finn butcher mate
02:01:06
you're a great New Zealander thanks so
02:01:08
much for coming here today I'm finally
02:01:10
uh I'm I'm glad we finally connected and
02:01:11
made this happen it's been really cool
02:01:13
yeah thanks for having me it's uh I was
02:01:15
pretty excited to come along and yeah
02:01:17
I'm stoked to talk to you so cheers mate
02:01:19
yeah sorry I'm I don't have $1,000 for
02:01:21
you lat Sean's podcast no all good all
02:01:24
good no worries