Our five-star Olympian

Three Olympics.

Five gold medals.

One bronze.

Lisa Carrington has paddled her way into our hearts during the past nine years and did it again yesterday.

She became the first New Zealander to win three gold medals at one Olympics with her gutsy win in the K1 500m at the Sea Forest Waterway.

The golden performance lifted her tally to six Olympic medals. She stands alone as New Zealand’s most successful Olympian and enters the discussion as our greatest ever Olympian.

Peter Snell’s 800m gold medal effort in Rome in 1960 and his 800m-1500m golden double at Tokyo in 1964 is probably still at the top of the list.

But Carrington might be able to lay claim to a solid second. Silver would certainly be a change.

The 32-year-old has looked unbeatable this week but came under a little pressure yesterday.

The final 30m or 40m actually looked taxing. She had powered her way to the front of the field.

But Hungary’s Tamara Csipes closed the gap a little during the final stretch.

No Olympic best this time — proof perhaps that Carrington is human.

Her efforts this week, though, would suggest otherwise.

Earlier this week she clocked Olympic best times in the K1 200m and the K2 500m to win gold.

Someone very clever suggested if Carrington was a country she would have been 22nd on the medal table when her race had finished.

Speaking of the medal table, New Zealand climbed to eighth place following her effort.

Tom Walsh added to the count with a bronze medal in the men’s shot put to go with the bronze he collected in Rio five years earlier.