Photo: Iain McGregor / www.photosport.nz
When the likely end of her extraordinary Olympic career finally came, it was hardly glamorous for Luuka Jones.
"You know, it was 9 o'clock at night and I was driving the van down to the course to collect my kayaks. We spent most of the day just clearing out our team room at the course."
It was part of the hard work and discipline she has always shown in her lengthy career.
She is one of a select group of New Zealand athletes selected for five Olympic Games. She won silver at Rio and is just the third New Zealand woman to compete at five Games joining shot putter Dame Valerie Adams and board sailor Barbara Kendall.
"It's gone pretty quickly, to be honest," she told Radio New Zealand's First Up this week.
"Each Olympic cycle has been so different, with different challenges and opportunities but it is pretty extraordinary to be finishing my career here in Paris.
"But I'll leave with so many special memories of our team and from this whole Olympic experience. And you know, there's that team behind the team, which is so special - people who worked tirelessly for us to go out and do what we do"
New Zealand white water paddler Luuka Jones . Photo: RNZ
Jones headed into these Olympics having last year won World Cup gold in Paris in the new Olympic discipline of kayak cross.
But she had had to come back from a dark patch when in 2022 she was diagnosed with long Covid and was forced to take the year off.
In Paris she looked a strong contender only to suffer a penalty in the kayak cross semi-final.
Los Angeles - a sixth Olympics - was a long way away and she told RNZ's Nathan Rarere she was retiring, finally.
"I love the sport. I love training for it. I love competing in the sport itself; it is incredible. And especially this new kayak cross.
"But you know, there's so many sacrifices you have to make as an athlete. You have to spend up to five months overseas at a time. It's a European-based sport. I'm looking forward to kind of settling down, spending some time with my family," she said.
"I've spent the last 20 years heading to Europe every year pursuing the sport."
Readjusting to a new life will be challenging; she already knows that, she said.
Luuka Jones. Canoe Slalom Selection Announcement for the Paris Olympic Games. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
The medal she won in Rio had helped boost the sport and she was proud of that.
"We weren't sure where canoe slalom would go in NZ. And suddenly there was an Olympic medal and we got funding and more paddlers. I'm really proud. I think of that as achievement for our sport."
But for now she believes the sport is in good hands. She cried tears of joy after watching Finn Butcher win gold - the third for a Kiwi this Olympics.
He'd won his quarter-final, come second in the semi and flew off the drop start in the final to take the race comfortably.
"The sport is in good hands with Finn and you know he'll inspire the next generation of paddlers to come through."
