Noemie nails gold in her Olympic debut
Jess Fox said of her younger sibling, “I’m in awe of her! She is an Olympic champion and has worked so hard for that."
It’s official – if super siblings Jessica and Noemie Fox were on the Paris Olympics medal table as a team in themselves, they would be in the top 20.
The former’s remarkable two gold medal wins in the first week of the Paris Olympics, in the women’s single kayak and single canoe events and the latter’s incredible win in the inaugural Olympic women’s kayak cross final, in the early hours of Monday morning (Australian time), generated a tidal wave of joy, excitement and pride in the Fox family, the Australian Jewish community and across the nation.
It was Jessica’s third Olympic career gold medal and her sixth medal in four Olympics appearances, while Noemie achieved gold in her Olympics debut, adding to the family’s tally of Olympic medals in the sport, as their mum and coach, Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, won bronze for France in 1996.
Having jumped into the water to embrace and congratulate Noemie while she was still in her kayak – followed shortly by Myriam – Jess said of her younger sibling, “I’m in awe of her!
“She is an Olympic champion and has worked so hard for that.It’s incredible what Noemie did today, to make it through each round with such composure, really good tactics and just going for it.
“She nailed it – she was ahead [in the final] from the first upstream gate and just held it together.
“It’s a fairytale ending to this Olympics – what a moment for our family!”
Noemie’s form was formidable throughout the competition, from the opening seeding time trial, to leading from start to finish in round one and in an elimination heat in which Jess bowed out.
With a knack for knowing exactly what to do in the exciting four-paddler racing format – which starts with a two-metre plunge off a platform at the start line – Noemie led from start to finish in her quarter-final, came back from fourth after a slow start in the semis to reach the finish line first and recovered from second spot midway through the final to win it by a comfortable margin, over Frenchwoman Angele Hug and British world champion Kimberley Woods.
The turning point in that golden win was when she correctly predicted that Woods would go left at the first upstream gate, so she paddled to the right one, gaining a clear run.
She made the right choice again in the last, crucial, upstream gate turn, while Woods got involved in a collision on the other side, losing valuable time.
Her proud dad, Richard, kept his trademark cool yet again, when commentating the race live on Nine.
“When I saw that I was first, I heard my mum do a guttural yell and I thought, okay, just keep tracking,” Noemie recalled the following day, in an interview on Nine.
“The feeling of crossing the line first – oh my gosh – I just want to relive that forever.
“It was amazing to be so driven, so courageous as well and to give it everything … it feels like a dream!”
Noemie also revealed how overcoming the pressure-cooker scenario of earning her spot in the Australian Olympic team in the first place by winning silver in the very last kayak cross qualification race in Prague in July, gave her the self-belief to go for gold in Paris.
“For me, that was the light bulb moment … you have beaten everyone before at least once,” Noemie said.
“So when I got there, I was like, anything is possible.”
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