New Zealand's most successful Olympian continues to excel.
Olympic rower Dame Lisa Carrington (Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki, Ngāti Porou) has been awarded the Lonsdale Cup for 2021, winning it for the third time.
The Lonsdale Cup is the New Zealand Olympic Committee’s most prestigious award and is presented annually by the New Zealand Olympic Committee to the athlete or team making the most outstanding contribution to an Olympic or Commonwealth Sport.
Carrington's 2021 was a stellar one after her dominant Tokyo Olympics performance, having won three gold medals for Team NZ. With the addition of winning the Lonsdale Cup, Carrington says it's a privilege and honour.
Keen to get back out there
“I’m thrilled with what we managed to achieve last year and would like to thank everyone who was involved in our campaign. I feel very lucky to be a professional athlete and I can’t wait to get back out there and keep wearing the fern and representing New Zealand.”
Carrington's medal tally is at six, made up of five golds and one bronze. One gold came by way of her Olympic debut in London in 2012 where she won gold in the K1 200. She defended that gold four years on and also won her lone bronze medal in the K1 500.
In world championships, Dame Lisa has claimed 10 world championship golds, including seven successive K1 200m titles, and a 17-medal total haul. Not only was she a four-time winner of the Halberg Award's Sportswoman of the Year but she also claimed the Halberg Supreme Award in 2016 and was also the recipient of Halberg Sportswoman of the Decade.
She was also acknowledged at the Māori Sports Awards as the greatest of 2021.