The Otago paddler yesterday capped a rapid rise at the elite level of her sport by being named in the New Zealand canoe sprint team for the Olympic Games in Paris.
Matehaere, 23, and her five team-mates, including the great Dame Lisa Carrington, were each presented with ferns at the team-naming ceremony at Lake Pupuke on Auckland’s North Shore yesterday.
"To me, the fern symbolises growth as well," Matehaere told the Otago Daily Times.
"I think it’s really beautiful that it sort of epitomises your journey. You start off so small, you develop and grow, and add to your repertoire, and eventually turn into a beautiful big ponga."
Matehaere got her sporting start through basketball — father Brent is the Otago Nuggets coach — and surf lifesaving.
She first represented New Zealand in canoeing in 2017, but did not expect to fulfil her Olympic dream so soon.
She will join Rio 2016 Olympian Aimee Fisher in the K2 500m boat in Paris, and their ambitions are clear.
"It sounds pretty bold, but we are going to aim for the top.
"That’s where you want to be — on top of the podium. I’ve never aimed for anything less."
Matehaere, the eldest of three sporty daughters, has been based in Auckland for four years to balance study and work commitments with fulltime training with the national canoe squad.
The former Otago Girls’ High deputy head girl and ODT Class Act recipient is still a proud daughter of the South.
"I’m definitely still an Otago girl. We just had the nationals and I still race for Otago.
"I very much claim my southern roots. I always brag to the girls up here how tough I am, because I was born and bred in Dunedin.
"I remind them that I paddled on my 16th birthday when there was snow to sea level and they’ve never done that."
