Jewish Australian athletes to watch in Paris
Here is a guide to which Jewish athletes to cheer for and watch on Channels Nine, Nine Now, and Stan Sport.
With the 2024 Summer Olympic Games’ Opening Ceremony in Paris early this Saturday morning (Australian time), kickstarting an unforgettable fortnight for Australia’s 460-strong Olympic Team, here is a guide to which Jewish athletes to cheer for and watch on Channels Nine, Nine Now, and Stan Sport.
CANOE SLALOM
Australian team co-flag bearer Jessica Fox and her sister Noemie Fox
French-born Sydneysider Jessica Fox is feeling at home in Paris as she prepares for her fourth Olympics, keen to add to her tally of four medals, including a gold she won in Tokyo.
The 30-year-old reigning Maccabi Australia Sportswoman of the Year last week had the honour of carrying the Olympic torch through the canoe slalom stadium.
Then, on July 24, she and Hockeyroo veteran Eddie Ockenden were announced as Australia’s flag bearers for the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, at a reception in front of the whole Australian Olympic Team, including her sister and Olympic debutant Noemie, and their parents.
She said the honour of being selected as a flag bearer is “probably the greatest moment of my career . . . to have the opportunity to present us to Paris, and the world, by leading us out in the opening ceremony”.
“It’s always a privilege to put on the green and gold [uniform], and to be here doing it a fourth time [at the Olympics] is wonderful, to be able to share that with our canoe slalom team, including my younger sister is amazing, and my whole family.
“I’m just speechless, to have this opportunity.
“We are 460 athletes, in 33 different sports, with different experiences and backgrounds, but we’re all united under this Australian Olympic Team, we’re inspired by those who came before us, and we’re ready to create our own legacy.”
Jessica Fox is a top medal contender in the women’s single canoe, single kayak, and the new racing format Olympic discipline of kayak cross – and remains hungry for more gold.
“The Olympics gives you this energy that you really can’t find anywhere else,” she said.
Her younger sister Noemie Fox, 27, also qualified for the women’s kayak cross, in what will be her Olympic debut.
It’s a dream come true for both sisters – but also for their mum, coach, and former French Olympian and bronze medallist paddler Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, and their British-born dad Richard, another former Olympian in the sport.
“What’s so special about Noemie being at her first Games is that I’m also seeing everything for the first time again, through her lens,” Jessica said.
Noemie recalled how she “had to let go of my fear factor” to earn her Olympics spot by placing second in a crucial world cup final in June, adding, “it has ignited so much more in me”.
“To join Jess on the Olympic team is so amazing, and hopefully, we line up next to each other in the kayak cross final – that would be the best possible outcome,” she said.
At the flag bearers’ announcement ceremony, Myriam shed tears of joy.
“I was very emotional. I’m so grateful to Anna [Meares – the Australian team’s Chef de Mission] for choosing Jess as the flag bearer, among all the fantastic athletes that we have in Australia,” Myriam said.
Richard said to have Noemie representing Australia in the Olympics this time, in addition to Jessica, is incredibly special for the family.
“Noemie’s qualification in June was massive for all of us, because she’s been following and supporting Jess, and finally she gets the chance to put on her own kit, as we say, so I’m very proud of Noemie too, to be in the team,” he said.
– The women’s single kayak final will be on July 29 from 1:45am (AEST), the women’s single canoe final from 1:25am on August 1, and the women’s kayak cross semis and final from 12:15am on August 6.
RACE WALKING
Jemima Montag
Dual Commonwealth Games gold medallist Jemima Montag, 26, has been training hard in Europe to prepare for her second Olympics, and is approaching Paris 2024 not just with excitement and pride, but with a newfound confidence as a genuine medal contender.
This time she has two chances, having qualified not only for the women’s 20km race walk – which she came sixth on debut in Tokyo in – but also a new Olympic event, the mixed team marathon race walk.
“The silver medal [in the 20km race walk at last year’s worlds] was when I finally reached this place where I felt I deserved to be on that podium,” the Maccabi Australia Presidents Award co-winner, IOC Young Leader, and Maccabi Victoria Athletics Club (MVAC) life member, said last week, adding, “That self-belief was a big shift from previous seasons”.
Whatever happens, Montag will have a 30-strong roadside cheer squad in Paris, of family, friends and MVAC members.
And she will, as always, wear a bracelet made from part of a necklace that belonged to her late grandmother Judith, a Holocaust survivor.
– The women’s 20km race walk will be on August 1 from 5:20pm [AEST], and the mixed team marathon race walk will be on August 7 from 3:30pm [AEST].
RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS
Alexandra Kiroi-Bogatyreva and Jessica Weintraub
Melbourne native Alexandra Kiroi-Bogatyreva, 22, and Brisbane resident Jessica Weintraub, 17, will both make their Olympic debuts in Paris, in individual and group rhythmic gymnastics events respectively.
Kiroi-Bogatyreva – who trains for much of the year in Baku, Azerbaijan, while also pursuing a law degree – is a Commonwealth Games gold medallist, multiple-time Oceania champion, and 2022 Maccabiah Games five-time bronze medallist.
Having missed out on qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics by the narrowest of margins, she feels absolutely pumped to be representing her country on the Olympic stage in 2024 as the reigning Oceania all-around titleholder.
“Love for the sport you do comes first, and if there is a will, there is a way,” she enthused in a Le Ray Gymnastics Club Q&A webinar last week.
“By fostering a supportive environment, and believing in our own potential, we can achieve anything we set our minds to.”
Weintraub, who is originally from Melbourne, made a switch from individual to group competitions three years ago, and is now reaping the rewards.
She is part of a six-strong Aspire Gymnastics Academy team that qualified for Paris by winning the Oceania Championships group competition in late May.
Weintraub told Gymnastics Australia last week that her team has put the hours in at training with their coaches, and gained inspiration and insights from observing how European teams train and prepare, while in Budapest earlier this year.
“While I think it will be definitely overwhelming with the crowd [in Paris], as we’ve never competed before in a competition that big,” Weintraub said, “we’ve done our work, and everything we could have potentially done for that moment”.
“We just have to give it our all.”
– The rhythmic gymnastics individual and group events will be held from August 8-10 in the evenings (AEST).
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