Noemie Fox now an Olympic champion, like her sister

Noemie Fox has stepped out of the shadow of her triple Olympic champion sister Jessica to win a gold medal of her own in the kayak cross to complete a clean sweep of women’s canoe events for their family.

If the Fox family were a nation, they would sit in 16th spot on the overall medal table at the Paris Games.

The 27-year-old has collected Australia’s 13th gold medal of the Paris Games with an unstoppable display in the new Olympic whitewater event.

Fox won every round before taking out the four-paddler final on Monday at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.

Fox crossed the line ahead of France’s Angele Hug with Great Britain’s reigning world champion Kimberley Woods winning bronze.

Woods held the lead but struggled to get around an upstream gate late in the course, allowing Fox to power to victory.

Jessica won the C1 and K1 Olympics titles – to bring her medal tally to six from four Games – before being eliminated early in the kayak cross.

Their mother Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi is also an Olympic medallist, winning a K1 bronze for France at the 1996 Olympics.

“It’s crazy that it’s mine,” Noemie said of the gold medal.

“You don’t really dare to dream this big, but I really did this time and I dared to dream to get to the Olympics and then to get to that final.

“When I saw in the last up (gate) that I was first, it was pure joy – there’s no words to describe that feeling.”

Fox was joined in the water by 30-year-old Jessica, who jumped in to celebrate after cheering her sibling all the way down the course.

While Noemie has long been a world-class paddler, she’s never been able to compete in an Olympics before with her superstar sister taking the only Australian selection spot available.

The younger sibling said there were many times she considered giving the sport away, such was her sister’s dominance.

But the addition of the splash and dash event in Paris opened up another spot for Noemie to qualify alongside Jessica, who helped her prepare for the selection regatta.

“I’m her biggest cheerleader, just like she’s mine,” Noemie said.

“To watch her win two golds and then to have her as my biggest cheerleader, it’s a fairytale ending.

She’s the greatest of all time in our sport … watching her win, it’s just such a privilege and inspiration and it really fuelled me.

When someone like that really believes in you and tells you ‘you’ve got it’, you’ve got to go and get it.

I got my moment and it’s my medal and we’re walking away with three gold medals in our family, which is insane.”

Jessica said she was proud to see her sister achieve her dream.

“I was so nervous, I just wanted her to do a good race … she nailed it,” she said.

“I’m just in awe of her … she’s an Olympic champion and she has worked so hard for that, I’m so happy for her.”

If the Fox family were a nation, they would sit in 16th spot on the overall medal table at the Paris Games.

Jessica and Noemie are sisters, best friends, training partners, competitors and now Jessica and Noemie Fox are both Olympic canoe champions.

While all the talk before the start of the Paris Games was about Jessica winning a gold medal treble, her younger sister Noemie carved out her own piece of the limelight by winning the kayak cross title.

Father Richard, a 10-time world champion but now officially the least successful Olympian in the Fox family with mother Myriam a bronze medallist, said Noemie contemplated giving the sport away many times.

With an older sister like Jessica, the GOAT of canoe slalom, boasting three Olympic titles from her medal haul of six, Richard said he would have understood if Noemie had taken a different path.

“It’s amazing she stuck it out, because she struggled,” said Richard, working in Paris as a TV commentator.

I was pretty good pretty early and my brother quit when he was 16 … in a way she stuck it out longer than most.

Until kayak cross it was, ‘As long as Jess is around there’s no place for me’.”

With only one selection spot available at the Olympics until the introduction of the kayak cross in Paris, Noemie’s role at the previous three Olympics was that of spectator, volunteer, and ground announcer.

But the introduction of the new event opened up the Games opportunity for Noemie and after eliminating Jessica in their four-paddler heat in Paris, she stormed through the rounds to win gold in Monday’s final.

In Tokyo there were emotional scenes with Noemie embracing Jessica after she broke through for her first gold medal.

This time Jessica and Myriam both jumped into the whitewater rapids at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium to celebrate Noemie’s shock win with her.

Noemie said Paris C1 and K1 champion Jessica, three years older at 30, had always been her biggest cheerleader.

She said after winning their heat that her sister told her to “take it all the way”.

Noemie said she would look to defend her title in Los Angeles in four years’ time and again turn the attention her way, even if it was just for one day.

“There’ll always be that shadow as she’s the greatest of all time in our sport and that’s something when I was starting out, it was really hard to deal with,” said Noemie.

“I always thought that I didn’t get the ingredients to do well in this sport but watching her win, it’s just such a privilege and inspiration and it really fuelled me.

It’s always been hard with just one spot available for the Olympics, but when there were two she really helped me and invested so much into my own campaign and self-worth.

I’m her biggest cheerleader, just like she’s mine.”