By Billie Eder
The Fox family will complete their Olympic haul at Paris 2024 after Noemie, the younger sister of Olympic gold medallist Jess Fox, was named on Monday as part of the Australian paddle team.
Noemie will be the final member of the Fox family to compete at Olympic level after securing an extra quota spot for Australia in the kayak cross at the World Cup event in Prague last month.
Jess and Noemie Fox in front of the Eiffel Tower after Noemie qualified for her first Olympic Games.
Fox’s mother, Myriam, is a two-time Olympian who competed for France and won bronze at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. Her father, Richard, competed for Great Britain at the 1992 Games in Barcelona, while sister Jess will compete at her fourth Olympics in Paris this month.
“I’m now the final piece of the puzzle, joining my family of Olympians,” Noemie said. “We really seized every single opportunity to try to make that Olympic dream come true, so to execute the plan is truly the most special win for me, my family and my team – and one that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
Noemie was officially selected on Monday after years of having to battle her sister for Australia’s only spot at previous Olympics.
“[At] Tokyo it was hard seeing other people that I was more competitive than or better [than] to qualify or have an easy qualification, and me having the greatest of all time [Jess] blocking me in two categories [was hard],” Noemie said.
“But I do think that it’s happened at such an incredible time for me in my career where I think I’m just a lot more mature and able to handle how big the Olympics is, and to be able to compete and be more competitive now.”
Noemie Fox competing at the World Cup event in Prague last month.Credit: Getty Images
The kayak cross, which Noemie described as a “contact sport”, features four paddlers competing on the course at the same time. The sport makes its Olympic debut in Paris. It means Noemie and Jess could have the opportunity to compete against each other if they meet in the pool or final stages.
“We have to negotiate our way down the course like in slalom, where there’s an upstream and downs, and there’s also an Eskimo roll at one point, and the top two of each round go through to the next level,” Noemie said.
Jess said watching her sister qualify was “one of the best days of my life”.
“It was honestly, probably up there with winning the Olympics for me,” Jess said.
Jessica Fox with her parents Myriam and Richard in Sydney last year.Credit: Getty Images
“I’ve never been so nervous ... I remember in the final when she came out of the last upstream gate, I was just screaming.
“I lost my voice afterwards, and was just crying because she had done it, and it was a really hard thing for her to be able to qualify, and she believed, and she worked so hard and she deserves it so much.
“There was just so much emotion, and joy and love and happiness, for her achieving that dream, to qualify.
“At the finish line, I jumped in the water and gave her a massive hug, and all the tears and emotion came out.”
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