Gold #5

We arrived back in New Zealand late last night, with eyes that weren't up to watching any of the Olympics on the telly.

But we were delighted when we good out complimentary newspaper this morning to learn that kayaker Lisa Carrington has won gold in the Women's K1 200; Stuff reports:

With coolness and style Lisa Carrington delivered New Zealand it's fifth gold medal at the London Olympics in the women's 200m canoe sprint at Eton Dorney.

Blessed by her Maori family, New Zealand's Lisa Carrington stormed to victory in the inaugural K1 200 on Dorney Lake on Saturday to give her country its first women's Olympic gold medal in sprint canoeing.

The smiling 23-year-old from Ohope Beach, New Zealand, wore a green stone necklace in the shape of a whale's tail tucked under her racing outfit that had been blessed by her Maori family for strength and protection.

"My dad's Maori. It's blessed by people from home and that means a lot," Carrington told reporters after winning her first Olympic medal and adding a fifth gold to the New Zealand haul at the London 2012.

The bubbly, 1.68-metre Carrington was one of the smallest competitors in the event but was confident ahead of the race that she could give Hungarian great Natasa Douchev-Janics and 2008 500-metre K1 Olympic champion Inna Osypenko-Radomska from Ukraine a run for their money.

"I've got good power-to-weight ratio. I'm small but I'm strong," she said.

Osypenko-Radomska won silver and Douchev-Janics bronze. 

The sprint kayak and canoe races are reasonably new innovations in international competition; but they are innovations that we like; read on:

The explosive sprint over 200 metres is new to the Olympic programme and designed to increase interest in the sport, with the canoeists taking three strokes per second in a fight for the line, which suits Carrington racing style.

"You can never predict how fast everyone else is going," Carrington said. "You've got to keep your feet in your lane and you know I just wanted to go as fast as I could." 

Lisa Carrington's gold medal has given New Zealand its best-ever Olympic medal haul of fifteen. After a slow start, the medals have flowed in the middle and latter parts of the games, and we extend our hearty congratulations to all those who have medalled in their various events. And to those who didn't, but achieved personal bests, especially the Black Sticks women's team who missed the gold medal match after losing in a penalty shootout.

But today is Lisa Carrington's day; what a fantastic performance.