New Zealand's first Olympic athletes have arrived back in the country following their heroic exploits in Tokyo last week.
The medal-winning sevens teams and rowers touched down in Christchurch today to enter MIQ, tired but happy to be home.
New Zealand women's rowing coach Gary Hay admitted it was "more a party flight than a charter one", unsurprising given the amount of shiny new silverware on board.
For some, it wasn't just new, but bigger and better than before.
"London I thought was massive [medals]," three-time gold medallist Hamish Bond told 1 NEWS.
"Rio was bigger and Tokyo, it's definitely heavier and I think its bigger again, so who knows what they'll do in Paris but someone's got to bite the bloody bullet at some point and not go bigger is better."
No stranger to MIQ, Bond is hoping to take some time out to relax and reflect on his latest achievement.
But having achieved such highs, some athletes may suffer post-competition blues.
"It's so full on for such a long period of time and then there's nothing, so that in itself can be difficult to deal with," Hay said.
It's a reason why there will be wellbeing checks as well as Covid checks during their two-week stay in isolation.
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