Doubt, dreams and a fear of failing: Lessons from a legend

"Great" has become a label so cheapened, a compliment so overused, a title so casually bestowed, we're not sure what word suffices for kayaker Lisa Carrington.

- Rohit Brijnath

Colossal? Monumental?

She'd probably just blush. For if she's fast — her boat moving like a hunting black marlin — then she's also disarmingly modest. You can tell because in a world of sporting accountancy, where everyone's calculating goals scored and Grand Slams won, she's not even completely familiar with where she sits on The List.

"Kind of," she says, "not really, maybe I read it once, but I've forgotten."

The List is the unofficial catalogue of Summer Olympic gold medallists. It isn't a conclusive measure of talent (swimmers can compete in eight events, kitefoilers one) and yet it speaks of uncommon talent.

Michael Phelps, 23 golds, leads The List. Six athletes on nine golds follow. Then eight champions with eight golds each. One is Carrington, 36, a Kiwi, who on hearing the details of The List only says this.

"Oh, okay, I'm close."

Once you digest the mad mathematics of Carrington's career — four Olympics, 11 races, eight golds, plus 15 world championship golds — you wonder: What makes such people? Well, growing up on the beach helps.

"You wake up and the ocean's there. So, it was our playground."