Stephan told Channel 7 friends and family back home were top of mind when she rowed to victory with her teammates.
“I hope they’re all watching. I went down that course thinking of them,” she said.
“I’m just so excited to come from such a small place and work hard – it just proves if you set your mind to something, anything is possible.
“Thanks to everyone, we wouldn’t be here without our clubs, Melbourne University, Rowing Victoria, our schools, our partners, our parents and our families.”
Nhill Pharmacy staff threw in their support for Stephan in the build-up to the event, setting up a ‘Go Lucy’ display in their front window.
Retail manager Rachel Ansell said pharmacy staff members were at the edge of their seat watching the women row to win the gold.
“There were about four of us watching and we were all getting goosebumps and yelling at the TV, it was quite thrilling to watch,” she said.
“It would be very inspiring, especially for young people to see that someone born and bred in Nhill has gone on to exceed in such exciting ways.”
In a historic day world rowing, the women's team are the first coxless women’s four gold medallists in almost three decades.
Officials dropped the event from the Olympic schedule 30 years ago, only reintroducing it for Tokyo games for gender equity.
The men’s team set a new Olympic record time of 5 minutes and 42 seconds to win gold, ahead of Romania in silver and Italy, who took bronze.
