Noemie Fox: When Olympic gold becomes the post-Games blues

When single-minded ambition and years of preparation pay off with the ultimate Olympic prize, then what? Gold medal kayaker Noemie Fox found post-Games blues are a thing. And that's OK.

Olympic Gold medal syndrome – it is a thing, just ask Noemie Fox.

Yet to truly soak up the spoils of the Paris Games, the kayak cross champion has spoken of the strange feeling athletes feel after the event that comes around every four years.

“There is the Olympic gold medal syndrome and the post-Olympic blues,” Fox told The Daily Telegraph.

“The Olympics is such an intense two week period … it is such an intense time and you don’t really get a moment to calm down, reflect and process everything that you experience so once that is done and ripped away like a Band-Aid, you think, ‘now what?’.

“You’ve had such a big goal that you’ve been driven by for so long that when that goal is done, you don’t know what to do with yourself, even if you have won.”

Olympic kayak gold medallist Noemie Fox. Pictures: NewsCorp/Supplied

Fox, 27, was one of the many Australian triumphs of the recent Olympics. She finally stepped out from the shadow of her multiple medal-winning sister Jess to make her own mark on the sport.

It was one of the most endearing moments of the Paris Games when Jess dived into the water to celebrate her sister’s win.

Noemie was special guest at SXSW Sydney at the ICC this week for a discussion on happiness and wellbeing.

“It is a real thing, it is a good syndrome to have,” Fox said. 

“I feel like I am only getting started. I love my sport and I feel like I am in a very privileged position to love what I do.

“Something you discover in the Olympics is that not every athlete loves their sport, some people actually hate it, some people just do it to get to the Olympics because they are good at it.

Australian sisters and dual gold medallists Jess and Noemie Fox. Picture: Cameron Tandy

“For me, I am lucky to feel like I still have so much to learn and so much to discover.

“I am not ready to give it up just yet. I have had a taste of success, I want to taste that again and you want to finish first again. I’d love to go to LA.

“You can only feel great when you’ve achieved something you’ve always dreamt of achieving.

SOCIAL MEDIA MINEFIELD

Social media post games has been a challenge too, something Fox has found difficult to navigate.

“I think most of my anxiety comes from social media,” she said.

“There’s a lot of incredible messages I’ve received post Paris but I think the amount is something I have struggled to deal with and it made me feel like a bad friend because I don’t reply to my friends because I don’t see the messages.

“Sometimes it just feels like you are drowning and you keep getting hit by waves and so I think my toxic trait is always being on ‘do not disturb’.”