Photography by Cari Hill. Hair by Rachel Mackwood. Makeup by Emma Peters.
She may be our most highly decorated Olympian with nine medals – eight gold and one bronze – but that doesn’t make Dame Lisa Carrington immune to self-doubt.
Over the years, New Zealand’s fastest flat-water canoeist has built a toolkit for personal success that has spilled over into public life in the colour of gold that includes managing wobbly moments. And while she’s basking in the afterglow of the Paris Olympics, Lisa is taking time to find her feet, enjoy some quiet time to let it all sink in, and remind herself of all the amazing little things that happened in Paris. “Being proud of them and not brushing them off.”
She is also proud of doing her best, which is a crucial message of her debut recently-published children’s book Lisa Carrington Chases a Champion / Lisa Carrington Me Te Toa Whakaihuwaka (Huia Publishers).
The book tells the story of eight-year-old Lisa entering a surf competition in Ōhope, Bay of Plenty, where she first learnt to paddle. It covers dealing with nerves, a canoe capsizing that shakes her confidence, the importance of showing up, how spending time in nature helps her to find calm and how she draws strength from her coach, family and top paddler, Māia.
“It’s about using some of the lessons and my philosophy in life to demonstrate through eight-year-old me how to get the resilience to work through challenges. I’m still learning and reminding myself of those lessons that are written in the book,” she laughs.
It’s about comparing you to you, Lisa explains. Doing your best – not your friend’s best or your cousin’s best – your best.
“For me, it’s knowing that no matter what, as long as I try with integrity, that’s good enough. The way things are in competition, you can get sucked into thinking that you need to win to be good enough. There’s so much telling you that if you’re not the best, you don’t get the recognition, or you didn’t try hard enough if you came third. So, I think it’s really just trying to make sure that the competitions or those things are there to help you be better for you rather than the glory of crossing the finish line first.”
And that’s one of her strategies for dealing with public pressure and high expectations. To make sure that the journey, growth and enjoyment of the memories of the moment, as well as challenging herself, is the most important thing. Lisa owns that’s a hard one to balance because she’s competitive.
“No one turns up at the Olympics and goes, ‘I just want to compete.’ Everyone who’s there wants to win.”
Tips for vitality
As an athlete, she is constantly “honing her vitality” because the healthier she is mentally and physically and the more energy she has, the better she performs.
“There’s such a measure on performance that links closely to if you had a good sleep, ate well or thought well, so vitality is important to me,” she says. “Some people have superpowers in sleep. When I was younger, absolutely I could sleep. The training was so hard that I was sleeping really well. And when you’re younger, you don’t have as much on your mind.”
An ambassador for 5+ A Day Charitable Trust, Lisa grew up knowing that a colourful plate of vegetables at every meal was a good way to go.
She doesn’t take supplements but focuses on food for fuel, including good-quality carbohydrates
and protein.
She also places importance on mental vitality, which she achieves in part through journaling.
“For me, journaling is a way to get clarity of thought and set a good intention for the day. Journaling has been helpful for me over the years. It’s somewhat therapeutic and helps to figure out what’s real and what’s not, and if it’s just me making up a little story in my head.”
Daily rituals
Lisa starts each morning making a coffee for her husband, Michael Buck, and herself. It’s a cherished time of connection important for her mental wellbeing. “Mental vitality is also about having that social connection outside of myself,” she explains.
Afterwards, she’ll journal, which enables her to check in with herself and understand her mindset daily. It also helps to slow her down and create space for a few moments of mindfulness, breathing or meditation. “Where attention goes, energy flows, so I understand 100 per cent if I’m really negative, the opposite of rose tints, that you start manifesting negative reality as well,” she says. “Just recognising that it’s a mindset and a perspective that I have choice over how to choose how I am and see the world, so nothing is out of my control in that respect. That awareness around where energy is flowing.”
Breathwork is another tool she uses to reset. She doesn’t use a particular method but will take a deep diaphragmatic breath in moments of stress.
“Sometimes, because I’m pushing myself to have a hard session, or my efforts are really high intensity, it can put me into a bit of a panic if I’m working really hard but not achieving the speed or the pace that I want to be at. And there’s also that fair bit of discomfort when you’re training and using the idea that if I start thinking irrationally or worrying about the outcome, I’m not going to achieve this number for this session. I’m not going to be able to finish. It’s like a panic that starts to happen. ‘You can’t do this. Oh my gosh, I’m worried. I’m not going to be able to finish. I’m not good enough,’” Dame Lisa explains. “I’ve found when I take a breath, just breathe diaphragmatically, slow down, I’m able to catch myself and go, ‘Whoa, just take a breath.’ I’m like, ‘Okay, actually I’m fine. There’s nothing wrong here. I’m doing exactly what I’m supposed to do. It’s just a difficult training.’
“Using breath to find calm is important. I don’t use any particular method – it’s just that deep, slow breath. It’s a way to settle, be present in high-stress, panicky kind of moments.”
Connecting with nature
In her book, eight-year-old Lisa finds calm beside the river. Her tūrangawaewae – the place where she belongs.
And her connection to nature remains in the present. Being on or near the water is where she draws calmness and stillness. It helps to bring her back to the present, even when she is about to race for a gold medal. “I’ll be getting into my boat and thinking, ‘Feel the water and just enjoy looking at how beautiful the water is.’”
Unsurprisingly, Lisa is passionate about river conservation. She doesn’t want to be paddling in polluted waterways and wants to protect them for future generations. She picks up rubbish when she sees it and is contentious about cleaning her boats as she travels to different waterways around the country to ensure she doesn’t transport unwelcome organisms, pests or algae.
Growing up in Ōhope she was surrounded by water and started out in surf lifesaving and paddling kayaks on the Whakatāne River. Now Auckland based, she can look out of her bedroom window and see Rangitoto and a little bit of ocean and loves her visits to the Bay of Plenty. “When you come over the Ōhope hill and see White Island puffing away and the beautiful blue water, you can just feel it. That affinity with the ocean and comfort being around it.”
Her children’s book is set in Ōhope and printed in both English and te reo Māori because she wants to reach as many kids as possible, and being Māori (Te Aitanga-a-Mānhaki, Ngāti Porou) was important to her. “Incorporating Māori culture and te reo in mainstream is important to keep it alive in everything we do and to ensure the longevity of the language and keep growing.”
While her book is targeted at four- to nine-year-olds, it’s for adults too. “It’s a really cool learning tool for adults teaching their children te reo because one of the best ways to learn is through kids’ books. I think it’s a no-brainer.”
Does she have any rituals or talismans when racing? Yes! She wears her red Oakley sunglasses for individual races and will always wear her pounamu to remind her of who she is and where she’s from.
Goal-setting
Having attended four consecutive Olympic Games, the question is will she be tempted to commit to another Olympic cycle and Los Angeles 2028?
Despite winning multiple medals, Lisa admits that in the past, she has been afraid of setting goals because she saw them as outcomes to strive for it as well as expectations and pressure. However, as her career has progressed her outlook on goalsetting has changed.
“I’ve learned that goals set the direction of where you want to go. They’re more like directions where you navigate. They’re your North Star.”
Post-Olympics, she’s enjoying setting a slower pace. “The most important thing is to not need to move, to rest. Just doing whatever I want to do. This morning, I went for a walk with my mum, and we had a dip in the ocean, which was freezing,” she laughs. “What’s so nice about now is not having to be anywhere, no real pressure or expectation. Being in this mode right now is really all I want to do.”
That includes reminiscing about her Olympic moments with family and friends to keep those stories alive and not grieve the moment of finishing after the competition build-up.
“You must make sure you embrace the moment because it’s gone in a second.”
