Kayaker Lisa Carrington paddled her way into immortality with two utterly dominant performances on the Sea Forest Waterway at the Olympic Games in Tokyo yesterday.
She powered away from her opponents in the K1 200m final to win gold by almost a boat length and in an Olympic best time 38.120sec.
The race was over so quickly, and the manner of the victory so emphatic, there was barely time to embrace the delicious tension which normally accompanies such big moments in sport.
A little more than an hour later, Carrington teamed up with Caitlin Regal to claim gold in the K2 500m.
Incredibly, it was Carrington’s fourth race of the day.
She had earlier won her semifinal and joined Regal in their semifinal victory.
The queen of the kayak has now won three consecutive gold medals in the K1 200m across three consecutive Olympics.
That is a lot of consecutives.
She also nabbed bronze at the Rio de Janeiro Games in the K1 500m.
There might be more to come from Carrington.
She is also in the K4 500m which starts on Friday.
Another couple of Olympic greats helped boost New Zealand’s medal tally.
Yachtsmen Blair Tuke and Peter Burling delivered a silver medal in the 49er class.
The pair, who won silver at the London Games and gold at Rio de Janeiro, were in the gold medal position heading into the final race.
But the Great Britain crew pipped Germany by two seconds in a tense finish, to claim gold.
Tuke and Burling were a further 15 second back in third and dropped to the silver medal position.
Boxer David Nyika lost his semifinal bout with Russian Muslim Gadzhimagomedov but has banked a bronze medal.
