Nhill Olympic gold medal rower Lucy Stephan returned to her hometown on Thursday for a speaking engagement.

It was the first time back in the Wimmera for the Nhill export since she, alongside Rosie Popa, Jessica Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre, won gold in the women's four rowing at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

The Wimmera's first Olympic gold medallist received a warm welcome from the capacity-restricted crowd that included Stephan's family, friends and Nhill community members who wished to congratulate her on her mammoth accomplishment.

The self-proclaimed "incredibly proud Nhill girl" started by telling the crowd of her unlikely beginnings in rowing - a sport Nhill is not traditionally renowned for - which she only took up in her senior school years at Ballarat Grammar.

"I started rowing there (Ballarat) and for those that don't know the lake was dry," Stephan said.

"But the school still offered rowing as a sport, so I would get on a bus once a week and go down to Geelong and that's where I learned to row.

"I was one of the only people learning to row as a senior. I got put in a boat with three of the top girls and the coach said, 'sit still while I teach Luce to row'.

"And then he turned into my coach the following year which was when I really learned to fall in love with the sport..."

Stephan recalled the rest of her journey of dedication and sacrifice, which saw her reach the pinnacle of her sport in early August.

After her speech, audience members were given an opportunity to ask questions. Questions on just about everything, from what drives her to the materials that make up a gold medal, were asked of Stephan.

With the 2024 Paris Olympics creeping up fast, the question on everyone's lips was whether Stephan aims to defend her title in three years.

"I definitely still have the fire in my belly, but it's seeing whether I can put that fire somewhere else and I don't know that," Stephan said.

Stephan acknowledged that it was tough spending significant time away from friends and family for her rowing career, but also highlighted that the time until the next games (three years) was appealing.

"I do love rowing, so there is a little spark there and the fact that it is only three years away also doesn't really help the drawing the other way," she said.

"I kinda came to the conclusion if I can sit back on the tv and know that I couldn't have made that crew go faster I feel like that's going to enable me to step back.

"It's knowing that if I couldn't have had a positive impact, or physically my body wasn't handling it then I need to step away because all I'm doing is taking a seat from someone who has the potential to go do what I just did."

Whether or not Stephan does race in Paris, rowing will certainly continue to play a big part in her life.

"I love rowing, that's my plan, I think it's always going to be in my life," she said.

"My plan is to start coaching."

In the meantime, we may even see the Olympic gold medallist on our screens again.

Stephan confirmed that the gold medal-winning men's and women's four teams had signed a manager together, the very manager who secured the original Oarsome Foursome the famous Golden Valley advertising deal.

"So I think he's messaged SPC, we'll see what happens," Stephan said.

"There'll be a few connections now that we've got the gold medal it makes us a little bit more marketable."