Diver Lizzie Roussel. Photo: NZ Olympic Team
It's inspiring to have other mothers to look up to on the New Zealand Olympic Team, diver Lizzie Roussel says.
Roussel (nee Cui) will compete in the women's 3 metre springboard diving event overnight on Wednesday.
Roussel was the first New Zealand diver to compete at the Olympic Games in 24 years when she contested the 3m event in Rio on her 18th birthday.
She withdrew from the Tokyo Games after becoming pregnant.
She told RNZ's First Up it was better to be competing as a parent.
"You have a little person to share with and that extra layer of motivation."
There were no other mothers diving this Games, she said.
"In my time diving I never knew of any (mothers), not to say that there wasn't I just never knew of any.
"I feel very motivated that there are other mums on the (NZ) team that I can look up to in sport."
Her daughter, Athena Olympia Jean Roussel, arrives in France tomorrow and Roussel said she couldn't wait to see her.
She said she tried to channel the excitement of the event into her performance, but not let the anxiety overwhelm her.
"It's almost this out of body experience where you just trust your body and you trust your mind and you have courage to attack all the fears, all the thoughts that are in your mind, just for that few seconds that I have to dive."
She was happy to be there and wanted to enjoy the experience, she said.
Roussel felt for the triathletes and the situation with the water quality in the River Seine, which she said was reminiscent of questions about the colour of the pool water ahead of Rio in 2016.
"That must be distracting and I'm sure they've been asked a million times, like I was, about that. But yeah, I hope that it didn't distract them too much."
Roussel began diving at the age of nine. She was awarded a diving scholarship to Louisiana State University as a teenager, and is now based in Louisiana.
It's a state famous for its French food, so how does Paris match up?
"I think the main difference is in Louisiana we use a lot of spice, it's a Cajun twist...The food that I had is a lot more plain tasting, flavourful, but not spicy."
