Fox, Kennedy, Titmus, McEvoy: Australia’s top 10 performers at the Paris Olympics
It was pure Parisian joy. Australia chalked up a record 18 gold in the city of love and the romance of some iconic moments in our Olympic history have been immortalised. These are the top 10.
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It was pure Parisian joy. Australia chalked up a record 18 gold in the city of love and the romance of some iconic moments in our Olympic history have been immortalised.
PETER BADEL, ROBERT CRADDOCK, BRENT READ and DAVID RICCIO sat down to nominate Australia’s top 10 performers at the Paris Olympics.
10. NOEMIE FOX
What a win. What an image. The sight of Jess Fox plunging into the water to hug her sister after Noemie’s kayak cross magic was an iconic memory that will never be erased.
It was a tear-jerking moment. Fox was so often second fiddle.
Then she paddled like someone driven to be a gold-medal force after years living in her sister Jess’ gargantuan Olympic shadow.
It was a wonderful moment for the entire Fox family and a nod to Noemie’s mum Myriam, who competed in this very event for France.
9. ARISA TREW
Most 14-year-olds girls want daddy’s credit card for a shopping spree.
Trew was too busy becoming the youngest gold medallist in Australia’s Olympic history, producing a stunning performance in the skateboard final to rewrite the record books.
Trew is the face of the Olympics’ movement to win over a new generation of fans.
With her beaming smile and natural style in front of the cameras, she could be a future flagbearer.
8. MOLLIE O’CALLAGHAN
Marvellous Mollie walked away with five medals but her most cherished one will be gold in the 200m free when she shocked the world by beating her Dolphins dynamo Ariarne Titmus.
The 20-year-old Queensland is young enough to become one of our Olympic greats.
She didn’t deliver quite as expected in her pet 100m free event but O’Callaghan’s power off the wall and underwater kicks are a thing of beauty.
Aussie squad members compare her fighting qualities to tennis great Rafael Nadal.
7. GRACE BROWN
The former runner who didn’t take cycling seriously until a series of stress fractures ended her athletics career.
Try riding the streets of Paris on a Lime bike and you will appreciate how good Brown’s ride was.
Factor in the rain and for Brown to take gold in the individual time trial was a victory for fearlessness.
Brown’s bravour was inspirational, unleashing a 39-minute blitz which destroyed her rivals and delivered Australia’s first gold of the games.
Brown set the tone for the entire Olympic team.
6. KAYLEE McKEOWN
Just a freakish effort to win the double - the 100m and 200m backstroke - holding off US sensation Regan Smith in one of the sport’s great shootouts.
The 23-year-old finished Paris with five medals and it’s a tribute to her constitution.
She lost her father Sholto to brain cancer in 2020.
Before every race, she looks down at a tattoo on her foot saying: “I’ll always be with you”.
A fierce competitor with an intimidating aura on the pool deck.
5. SAYA SAKAKIBARA
Super Saya produced one of the beautiful moments of the Games.
When she claimed gold in the BMX final, she raised her arms saluting her brother Kai, who was forced to retire from the sport in 2020 after suffering a serious brain injury.
Sakakibara wore No.77 - Kai’s former race number.
Her win was his win.
And this was as gutsy as any triumph, the 24-year-old Gold Coaster overcoming a crash at Tokyo to reach her BMX Everest in Paris.
4. CAM McEVOY
One of the shocks of the Olympics. Twelve years of slog culminated in 21.25 seconds of glory. Mighty McEvoy rattled all convention in his surge to gold in the 50m free.
He challenged the system and beat it, redefining the sport by reducing his training schedule from 70km to as little as 20km a week.
He took up calisthenics, gymnastics, and rock climbing.
In Tokyo, he finished 29th. Three years later, at age 30, he took gold. Beyond belief.
3. ARIARNE TITMUS
‘Arnie’ joined the legendary Dawn Fraser as the only Aussie female swimmer to win an Olympic title and defend it.
She was a juggernaut that no-one could stop in the 400 metres.
Titmus faced the major challenge of going from an unfeted young girl whose focus was the thin black line to a swimming star tugged in all directions after Tokyo.
Amid the furnace, she swam through the fire to bury great American rival Katie Ledecky.
2. NINA KENNEDY
Does anyone sum up the Aussie spirit like Nina Kennedy.
Tough, talented and always up for the fight, Kennedy’s win in the pole vault was one of the great moments in Australian Olympic history.
Australian swimming has won almost four times as many gold as athletics so a pole-vault win rockets up the list.
Kennedy missed a jump at 4.70m but held her nerve to soar 20cm at 4.90m.
The 27-year-old Perth pocket rocket is forever immortalised.
1. JESS FOX
This was the Jess Fox games. Born in Marseille, she injected a magical Aussie touch on French soil by carrying the flag at the opening ceremony.
After two bronze and silver in the K1, Fox showed the courage of a champion, nailing gold in an event that has been a family obsession.
She then backed up to clinch a golden double in the C1.
Her father Richard brilliantly calling the action was the exclamation mark that captured the romance of the Paris Olympics.
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Originally published as Fox, Kennedy, Titmus, McEvoy: Australia’s top 10 performers at the Paris Olympics
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