Nevin Harrison Did Her Thing With The Motorcycle; Now She’s Ready To Defend Her Gold Medal In Paris

Nevin Harrison had always dreamed of riding a motorcycle, so around a year after winning a gold medal in sprint canoe at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, she purchased a Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R.

Everyone, of course, warned Harrison that she could get hurt riding such a fast motorcycle around her new home in San Diego. But she figured she might as well go ahead and do it before it was too late.

The Seattle native had her Kawasaki Ninja for a year and a half until someone stole it in December. As disappointed as she was, she admitted something good came out of her losing her motorcycle.

Harrison had one less thing to possibly distract her and break her focus as she trained in the hopes of defending her gold medal at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

“I think in a way it was kind of a blessing in disguise because it took that option away where, even though I wasn’t riding as much anymore, I was actually forced to not ride, which sucked at the time,” said Harrison, a few days after celebrating her 22nd birthday on June 2. “But looking back now, knowing where I’m at, I think that it was kind of the best thing that could happen.”

Harrison has experienced plenty of life changes since her historic performance at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 when, at age 19, she became the first American woman to win Olympic gold in canoe or kayak. In the aftermath she adopted a dog, moved to Southern California and started college and surfing.

Harrison, a two-time world champion in the women’s C-1 200-meter sprint, has also focused on her mental health in the year leading up to the Paris Olympics. With help from a sports psychologist, she pulled herself out of “a super dark place” and became the first American to qualify for Paris in a canoe or kayak event in late March.

“The post-Olympic blues that all the athletes talk about was very, very real, even despite winning a medal and being so excited and happy to come home,” Harrison said. “I think going on that really high high, and then as you go back down the hill, you look ahead and you realize you have years and years of training to go before it happens again.

“I think it’s a big kind of mission to look forward to, which is hard. It kind of drags you down a little bit when you feel like there’s not a lot coming in the direct future. But I’m definitely happy that I pushed through all that and made it.”

Harrison has shared updates on her training for Paris with her more than 74,000 followers on Instagram.

After splitting her time between Seattle and the Atlanta area, Harrison decided following the Tokyo Olympics to move to San Diego to enjoy the warm weather and attend San Diego State, where she’s majoring in biology.

Harrison said she embraced the California lifestyle and started surfing a lot. People would sometimes recognize her on campus immediately after the Olympics, she said, but it wasn’t a problem.

“Typically, because (sprint canoe) is a smaller sport you could say, I actually like the fact that I don’t really have the issue of being recognized everywhere I go,” she said.

In addition to moving across the country, Harrison made another big decision when she adopted an English bulldog named Reggie.

Harrison said she has around three semesters left until she graduates from San Diego State University, but she has taken off the past year from college to focus on winning a second consecutive Olympic gold.

“People like to assume that if you win it once, you’re going to do it again. And as much as I hope I do and am training as hard as I can to do so, it’s still really hard,” Harrison said. “It’s still a big chunk of time in between the two Games, but people tend to say pressure helps. So, I’m hoping that that additional pressure is just going to be beneficial.”

One area that Harrison has worked on over the past few years is her mental approach to the sport. She said she spoke with her coaches a number of times about how she felt “like a machine” and “like a robot” in Tokyo.

Harrison admitted having that sort of mindset was perfect for when she was competing at the Olympics because it allowed her to feel “superhuman” while racing against mere mortals. That mindset, however, wasn’t sustainable.

“I think I started to feel really really human in the last couple of years, and those injuries kept nagging and the mental health part just wasn’t as rock solid as it was (before),” Harrison said. “So, I think trying to get back to still understanding that now I am human but having that sort of superhuman mentality going into a race is definitely one of the biggest things I’ve worked on. And I find that I can get that just from hours and hours of putting in the work.”

Harrison said she has also been meeting with a sports psychologist for the past year, and their work together has helped her get to a good place heading into Paris.

Harrison is now excited to enjoy the full Olympic experience this summer. The coronavirus pandemic was still in effect when she won her gold in Tokyo, so none of her family members were able to travel with her to Japan.

At the same time, since Harrison doesn’t compete in a team sport, she felt very isolated in Tokyo. That won’t be the case in Paris, though. She’s expecting to have a large cheering section made up of her family and her boyfriend’s family rooting her on as she attempts to win another gold.

“Ultimately, (the gold) is sort of the only thing that I want going into the Olympics. But at the same time, there’s so many factors that you can’t control and there’s so much that goes on,” Harrison said. “Though for me in my head I have only gold in my thoughts, I still have to understand that there are human elements that we need to remember.”