A new piece of gold has been brought back to gold country thanks to Olympian Finn Butcher.

Finn has arrived home to Alexandra after winning an Olympic gold medal in the kayak cross in Paris earlier this month.

“It was obviously extremely special to get that win in Paris and do it with friends and family in the crowd and some Central Otago locals over there with us. It was amazing, definitely moments of my life I’ll never forget,” he said.

“I’m just really, really proud of being from Central Otago and representing the community on the world stage and pretty stoked to bring a new piece of gold back to gold country,” he told The Central App.

Following his win, Finn was also “honoured” with the role of joint flag bearer at the closing ceremony a week ago, alongside Olympic champion kayaker Dame Lisa Carrington.

Finn said the role was one he was proud to have been asked to do, which provided him with yet another surreal moment, as he walked into a packed Stade de France.

“It was incredible and again more and more moments of my life that I’ll just never forget. It’s been amazing.”

Finn said life had been busy since his win.

He spent about another week in the Olympic village, which included a trip to the velodrome and athletics field.

Finn has also spent a lot of time doing media interviews and catching up with people who have made him realise how much interest there now is in his chosen field.

“I’ve met so many people and they’ve said that they watched and supported and stayed up late, or got up early to cheer me on and that they were super proud,” he said.

“That’s like the coolest thing that I've seen, how many people watched and how many cheered me on and loved it and loved watching the sport.”

Finn will travel to Auckland on Friday before returning to Europe for two world cup championships.

Until then, he’s happy to be relaxing in Alexandra.

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