In between her intense competition and training schedule, which included winning 4 national titles in early March, Rio 2016 Olympian Burnett has been sharing important lessons with more than 2500 students across a dozen Queensland schools with Olympics Unleashed. 

As one of 75 athletes delivering the Unleashed program to primary schools across the state, Burnett is loving the opportunity to give back to her community. 

“I remember when I was at school and having an athlete visit, I had my eyes wide open and jaw was on the floor, it was so exciting,” she said. “It’s pretty special to swap around and be in the other position, to be able to share with students a bit about what the team and I are doing. 

“For me the best part is the one-on-one time with the kids, where I can chat with and answer questions with the students.  

“I was lucky enough to visit the school that’s just 500m from where I live. Since then, when I’m at my local shops, students run up to say hi and ask how I’m going in training. It’s funny being recognised outside of the kayak circle, it’s great to be able to connect with them. 

“As an athlete sometimes we’re in a bubble and it can be such a hard slog. But seeing the impact it has on students through the Unleashed program really puts it in perspective and helps me work even harder for my next event.” 

Whether it’s animal encounters or race prep, students’ curiosity about how athletes follow their dreams is inspiring for Burnett. 

“Kids are always interested to find out if there are sharks in the water when we’re racing.  It’s interesting that I don’t get asked much about the medals or results – the students want to know what we do as athletes to get to where we are, how we prepare and what steps I took to follow my passion – I think that’s really cool and shows they’re interested in what steps they can take to follow their own passions.” 

After taking out the K1 200m, K1 500m, K2 500m (with teammate Aly Bull), and K4 500 at the recent Australian Championships, Burnett will take her red hot form to Europe in the coming months. 

"I was so stoked with the results at the national titles," she said. "I really wanted to try and get that double in the K1 200 and 500. We’ve got a really good group of girls at the moment so the pressure was definitely on. I ended up winning the 200m by just 0.11 which is nothing but I’m definitely happy to take the double."

The Queenslander is excited to take this form into a big season of international racing.

“It’s a big year for us but I’m confident we know what we need to do,” she said. 

“We’ve got the world cup series in May in Poland and Germany then the World Championships in Hungary in August which is super exciting as it doubles as the Tokyo 2020 qualifiers. Hungary is the home of kayaking at the moment, it’s a massive sport, so to be able to go do Olympic qualifiers in front of a massive crowd will be pretty special.”  

Burnett will race both in the single event (K1) as well as with three teammates in the K4. 

“Kayaking is a bit of an odd sport in that you’re direct rivals in the K1 then jump in a boat and be really good teammates for the K4 team boat.  We have a really good culture in our squad – we push each other in the K1 but we’re always happy for each other if someone does a good time.  

“It makes it a lot easier to jump in the team boat and put our best foot forward because everyone’s really supporting each other and keen to see the best boat on the water. We all know we’ve contributed to what the team’s doing.” 

With a hectic international season coming up, Burnett knows she’s got the support of thousands of students in Queensland cheering her on from back home. 

olympics.com.au