New Zealand canoe sprint paddlers Aimee Fisher (left) and Dame Lisa Carrington. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
A New Zealand Olympic champion says Dame Lisa Carrington and Aimee Fisher cannot become distracted by their rivalry in their inevitable showdown.
In the kayak sprints, the K4 500m team of Dame Lisa, Alicia Hoskin, Olivia Brett, and Tara Vaughan held off Germany to claim the gold medal on Thursday night.
For Dame Lisa, it was her sixth Olympic gold medal, and she will be hoping to add more as the Paris Games draw to a close. She is teaming up with Hoskin again on Friday night (NZ time) in the K2 500m finals.
Tomorrow she will try to defend her Olympic title when she competes in the K1 500m finals but she has got stiff competition.
Fisher and Dame Lisa are on track for a gold medal showdown after both blitzed the field in their heats of the women's single kayak sprint.
Carrington was the fastest qualifier for the semi-finals with a time of 1:48.51 in her heat, while Fisher qualified second in a time of 1:49.16.
It is not the first time two New Zealand athletes have competed head-to-head for gold at the Olympics.
Equestrian riders Blyth Tait and Sally Clark did so in 1996. And triathlete Hamish Carter won gold in 2004, defeating fellow Kiwi, Bevan Docherty, by less than eight seconds.
Hamish Carter recalls NZ one two at Athens games
Carter told RNZ's Morning Report that the dynamic changes when competing against a fellow Kiwi for a spot on the podium.
"I think in hindsight it definitely does change stuff because weirdly if you get into a position where you've beaten the rest of the world and you've actually got another New Zealander there with you it's kind of annoying ...I think what it does is it actually lifts you to a whole other level because I think them coming from your country it's almost personal, not in a bad way but in a way that you know them so well," Carter said.
"And I think in a sport where you've got two or three of the best athletes in the world, the New Zealanders scrapping against each other I think you have to lift to a whole new level."
Carter does not think he would have been as successful without Docherty, because he did not want to lose to him, and it was probably the same for Docherty.
New Zealand's Olympic Triathlon Gold Medalist Hamish Carter shows off his gold medal with Team mate Bevan Docherty who won silver. Athens, Greece, Thursday 26 August 2004 PHOTO: Andrew Cornaga/PHOTOSPORT Photo: ANDREW CORNAGA
"We had an incredible rivalry but also huge respect and I don't know for Lisa and Aimee, but potentially them competing against each other will lift them beyond the rest of the world because they'll be so competitive against each other, which is such a cool thing."
Carter said the competition between the two Kiwi paddlers will only give them an advantage over the rest of the field, if they can control it.
"You can't get emotional, you know it's not like a chariots of fire moment. It's relatively clinical but you can very easily become distracted and stressing about getting beaten by another New Zealander. I think you've got to find this delicate mix between it sort of inspiring you and making you a little bit angry and wanting to be in a total dogfight.
"But at the same time you've got to be able to execute really, really effectively and so that takes a lot of practice and you can't get carried away.
"You watch these athletes when they are about to perform under pressure ...the women's K4 win, they were really delivering what they'd practiced and I think it was quite clinical because they had practiced that over and over and over again and they didn't get distracted by the Germans who had come up on them. So it will be the same thing for what Lisa and Aimee have to do when they race each other."
Carter said when he watches the Olympics now he is struck by the level of performance from the New Zealand athletes.
"You know we're winning these medals but you just watch all the events unfold and everyone in the world is there as best as they can be to perform and across the number of sports and the number of athletes who have done so well. Even those who haven't won medals, it's just remarkable what an amazing team we have," Carter said.
"The Olympics does create this sense of these immortal people but the reality is they're just like anyone else, they've just focussed on something and worked really hard and they've been able to execute their plan.
"As a country we can a little bit like 'oh great 10 medals, shouldn't we win 12?' - it's about the medals but it's not. There's so many athletes there who have performed incredibly well ... on a global scale we're so tiny and it sort of amazes me that we can continue to be so good at this."
The Women's K1 500m final is at 11pm Saturday.