100 People Behind Bay Business - 2023

PHOTO JO CAIRD, UNDER ARMOUR NZ
DAME LISA CARRINGTON
Dame Lisa Carrington, world champion
kayaker and New Zealand’s most decorated
Olympian of all time, played netball growing
up and dreamed of being a Silver Fern.
She is a six-time Olympic medallist, having
won five gold medals and one bronze in three
consecutive Olympics. In addition, she has
collected 14 gold, 5 silver, and 2 bronze World
championship medals. She also won the Lonsdale
Cup three times.
PADDLING TO THE OLYMPICS
Carrington, from Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki and Ngāti
Porou and European descent, was born on 23 June
1989 in Tauranga and raised in Ōhope Beach. She
attended Whakatane High School and Massey
University in Albany. She has a Bachelor of Arts
degree, majoring in Politics and Māori Studies, as
well as a Graduate Diploma in Psychology, and is
studying for a Masters in Psychology.
A typical Kiwi kid, Dame Lisa played netball in
winter and surf-lifesaving in summer. She was good
at netball and won national surf life-saving medals.
“I wanted to be a Silver Fern,” Carrington told Sport
New Zealand during an interview. “If you play a
sport, you want to be the best.”
Her first experience of rowing was paddling a
surf ski. Her mother Glynnis told Sport Illustrated,
how much time the young Lisa spent in the waves
practicing on her surf ski. “It was just that drive to
be out there and practice.” The practice paid off
when she won a national surf ski race at age 16.
Her father, Pat, encouraged her to try canoeing.
He signed her up for a kayaking camp on a lake
near Ōhope. One of the coaches, four-time gold
medallist Ian Fergusson, later said she was a
natural. The future Olympian entered the national
championships in Auckland later that same year
(2007)—borrowing a kayak from a fellow racer.
Dame Lisa won her first Olympic gold in the K1
– 200m Women’s event at the London Olympics in
2012. Since then she added gold to her Olympic tally
for this event at both the Rio Olympics (2016) and
the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. She also won Olympic
gold for K1 – 500m Women (2020) and K2 – 500m
Women in 2020.
HONOURS, AWARDS, AND A DAMEHOOD
Described by Sports Illustrated as “quietly humble,
yet furiously driven”, she was made a Member of
the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2013 and Dame
Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for
services to canoe racing, in 2022.
She was named Halberg Sportswoman of the
year 5 times (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022), Halberg
Sportswoman of the Decade: 2021, and received
the Halberg Supreme Award in 2016 and 2022.
In 2021 she was named the most influential
Māori Sports Personality of the past 30 years.
Previously she was awarded Māori Sportswoman of
the Year 6 times and Overall Māori Sportsperson of
the Year 6 times.
Dame Lisa currently lives in Auckland with her
husband Michael and their dog, Colin.
6 | 100 – PEOPLE BEHIND BAY BUSINESS | 2023