Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have plenty on their plate to think about - and that's before they even think about the next America's Cup being overseas instead of in New Zealand.
The duo defended the America's Cup in March but have since launched New Zealand's entry in the SailGP, stepped up training for their Olympics campaign and continued to run their environmental charity, Live Ocean.
Tuke and Burling are now in the final stages of preparing for the defence of their Olympic title in the 49er class, but it comes as Team NZ announced yesterday they'd declined the Auckland hosting bid for the 37th America's Cup, opening the door for overseas deals.
Tuke told 1 NEWS they along with everyone at Team New Zealand would love to remain in Aotearoa but Covid-19 has thrown a spanner in the mix.
"We absolutely loved defending the Cup here in March," Tuke said.
"It was amazing having the Kiwi support and for us and everyone at Team New Zealand, that would be the first step to try and have it here but the reality is it's a tough event to hold, especially in these challenging times."
Burling added Team NZ appreciated the recent news could be tough for fans.
"It's a pretty challenging time in the world of sport at the moment," he said.
"Covid has put a bit of a curveball in there and we've got to figure out how to make it all work."
The pair agreed the situation isn't their focus right now though with Tokyo on the horizon.
"It's an incredibly hard thing to go and win a gold medal for your country so it's something we've got to make sure we put the time into it that it deserves," Burling said.
"Our focus over the last three months, we've been pretty busy on this Olympic campaign so that's where our focus is," Tuke added.
Busy waters
Tuke and Burling's insanely busy schedule has kept the pair on their toes over the last three months, but they wouldn't have it any other way.
Burling said the pair take particular pride in the charity work Live Ocean continues to do, to raise awareness around marine ecosystems and ocean health.
"To have Live Ocean involved in [SailGP] is something that's very motivational," Burling said.
"We're very passionate about the marine environment and doing everything we can to look after it and getting people to understand how much it does for us and getting everyone to care about what happens out there in the ocean."
There's also the wee challenge of defending their gold medal next month in which the pair don't want to just win their event - they want to dominate it.
"We've been in this situation before in building up to Rio and we know the level we got to there so for Blair and myself we've set ourselves a goal of getting to a level in the 49er we've never got to and trying to take that bar to another level," Burling said.
"We're really motivated to try win another medal for Aotearoa and for us that means trying to get to another level we've never been to before," Tuke added.
"We know the competition around the world is stepping up too."
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