PARIS (Reuters) - Three years after missing the podium in Tokyo, New Zealand's women's four kayak crew held their nerve in the final at the Paris Games to take the gold medal in the 500-metre race, finally erasing a bitter Olympic memory.
Pushed hard by Germany, Lisa Carrington and her teammates had to dig deep over the last 100 metres to sprint to the finish in a time of 1:32.20, 0.42 seconds ahead of the Germans, with Hungary, who won gold in Tokyo, picking up the bronze medal.
"We learned a lot from Tokyo, it really is an evolving thing, and we have worked incredibly hard on all the things that can make a difference, and it was really nice to see that come together today," Kiwi kayaker Alicia Hoskin said.
The New Zealanders may have looked under pressure late in the race, but Olivia Brett said it was all part of their plan.
"It kind of looks like that when you're watching the race, but for us that's our strategy, and we executed the game plan we know we can do. When we do a little bit of a lift, everyone has that last little bit of heart," she said.
For Carrington - New Zealand's most successful Olympian with six golds and one bronze and the possibility of more to come in Paris - the race went perfectly.
"To win this is an incredible race, we have to have four girls doing the same thing at the same time, its special, its hard work. We just nailed it, it doesn't just happen, we really worked for it," she said.
"It was pretty amazing. We worked pretty hard (to) meet the pressure, do what we wanted to do, with the chaos around us. We are incredibly proud of our work and the team around us."
(Reporting by Philip O'Connor; Editing by Alison Williams)
