But it is now our favourite sport in the world after the exploits of Alexandra’s Finn Butcher, who overnight Tuesday Central Otago time became the inaugural kayak cross gold medal winner at the Paris Olympics.
Attentive Otago Daily Times readers have been well appraised of the burgeoning talents of Finn Butcher. He first featured in our sports pages as a 12-year-old practising rolling his kayak at Alexandra’s Molyneux Aquatic Centre — a handy skill to learn it turns out, as a kayak roll was an integral part of the Olympic course.
After those precocious days Butcher graduated to regional and national age group competitions and his talents were soon recognised. Central kayaking identities Alan "Sarge" Hoffman and Gordon and Mary Rayner backed Butcher, who was performing with distinction both on the sports field and academically: he was one of Dunstan High School’s nominees for the ODT 2012 Class Act awards.
Butcher moved to Auckland so he could train full-time at a dedicated whitewater park rather than navigating the Manuherikia, and by 2018 Butcher was performing with distinction on the world stage at both the world junior and under-23 champs.
However, external factors conspired to hamper Butcher’s career, as the Covid pandemic meant drastic alterations to the global sporting calendar for all athletes. With safety plans in place Butcher won a silver medal in kayak cross at the 2021 World Championships in Bratislava and made it to his first Olympics in Tokyo, as a travelling reserve for the K-1 event.
By now regarded as New Zealand’s leading white water paddler Butcher had his eyes firmly fixed on Paris, and at last year’s Canoe Slalom World Championships he qualified a Kiwi boat in both the slalom K-1 and kayak cross.
Butcher’s subsequent selection to compete in both disciplines in Paris was well-deserved, given the dedication and hard work he had put in.
However, choppy waters were ahead for Butcher in the K1, in which he was regarded as a strong medal prospect. In his semifinal officials penalised Butcher 50 points after it was deemed he missed a gate on the technically challenging Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium course.
It looked a marginal call but a stoic Butcher was philosophical afterwards: "It was a few millimetres . . . that’s sport."
Whether that fuelled his determination to do better in the hurly burly kayak cross event only Butcher knows, but as he paddled his way through several combative heats on his way to the final the genial Butcher was all business.
Having qualified for the final, you could tell that he was not going to let this chance slip by him. Having being catapulted into the rapids Butcher immediately went into a solid lead over three-time world champion Joe Clarke, and you could tell that he had no intention of being passed.
The South can be proud of his achievements, and of the humble, dignified and self-effacing manner with which Butcher has handled his sudden elevation to international sporting celebrity.
Nations the world over pour millions into spotting, developing and training top-tier sporting talent. But it turns out that a world champion can be found in our own backyard, learning their skills on irrigation channels on a local cherry farm, before graduating to greater things.
Finn Butcher is a local success story that we can all enjoy. He is also an sterling example to all aspiring southerners that hard work and commitment can earn you reward on the highest stages of all.
