Tom Green & Jean van der Westhuyzen

Tom Green and Jean van der Westhuyzen were a surprise package at the Tokyo Olympics. Setting an Olympic record on their international debut in the heats, the pair won Australia’s first gold medal in the event’s 85-year history. They will remain reigning Olympic champions of the K2 1000 with the event scrapped for Paris Olympic Games and have been on a journey to adapt to a different Olympic competition, the K2 500.

About Tom Green & Jean van der Westhuyzen

• Tom and Jean joke they know each other better than their partners. But it’s no surprise given the pair’s last six years spent training before dawn together, living as house mates, and travelling the world competing.

  It is a sacrifice they acknowledge their loved ones make consistently in taking a back seat to their sprint canoe dreams.

  “They help work their lives around us a lot of the time. Which is so selfless of them to be able to help us like that. Our families have supported us to get to where we are today,” says Tom Green.

  The sacrifice has already started paying off as the pair prepare to contest a different, challenging Olympic event.

  Jean van der Westhuyzen recounts their most recent win in the K2 500 at the World Cup as being almost as special as their Olympic win.

  "Because we’ve been trying to adjust to the new event, we hadn’t been able to crack a win over the last three years. So to go to Hungary in a competitive field and get a win was nice and special. But we’re not riding that win at all.”

  While their World Cup success was memorable, van der Westhuyzen says it was just a little tick on their checklist before the Paris Games.

  “Obviously we want to go there and fight for gold. But I think our process over the last couple of years of remaining hungry, training hard, and never cutting a corner has been really important.”

  Making sure the pair don’t cut any corners has been head coach Jimmy Owens and QAS Strength and Conditioning coach Jesse Fleming.

  “Jimmy Owens is quite a successful coach. He’s got so much knowledge behind him from all the other athletes he’s worked with in the past, as well as all the Olympics he’s been to. It’s really humbling as an athlete to know that your coach has been there and done it multiple times. And it’s what helped Jean and I get across the line in Tokyo,” says Tom Green.

  His teammate Jean van der Westhuyzen couldn’t agree more.

  “It’s great to have a guy like Jimmy leading us through this next part.”

• Just as motivated for the paddlers to win gold in Paris is their Strength and Conditioning coach Jesse Flemming.

  “You get into this profession with the idea in mind you’re dealing with other people’s dreams. You want to work as hard as them to try and help them accomplish that,” says Fleming.

  Fleming’s passion has sometimes been the paddling pair’s saving grace during hard training sessions.

  “What really motivates us on those tough days, when it’s raining, wet and cold, and you’ve been at it for so long, you’re just so ready for a rest, is having our support staff around us. Because everyone turns up,” says Green.

  “I’m sure all of us would love to sleep in and wake up next to our partners, and see our families, and not wake up at the crack of dawn and go out and hurt yourself for an hour and a half just for a one minute thirty race. It’s really important that we have that team around us.”

  Luckily for coach Fleming, being the pair’s hype man has not been an extra burden.

  “It’s a real privilege to be able to be next to them, with them along the journey. So when they get to this point where they can make a Games and go out there and compete and give everything they can to accomplish their dream, it’s a pretty cool thing,” says Fleming.

  Tom and Jean’s friendship has endured more highs and lows than most, which van der Westhuyzen says is one of their competitive strengths.

  “I think it’s great going into Paris now; we trust each other. We have a really good understanding of how we tick. What gets us going. And what’s going to be required in Paris as well for a good performance.”

  No matter what happens at the next Olympics, the paddling pair know they have forged a bond that will go beyond their professional sporting careers.

  “It’s just good to have a good mate in Tom. Outside of kayaking I’m sure when we finish up, we’ll continue to have a barbeque together, meet up, and you know just go through life I guess,” says van der Westhuyzen.