‘I got my moment’: Noemie Fox wins ‘crazy’ gold, Jess celebrates in touching scenes

Noemie Fox has won a thrilling gold, celebrating with her family in jubilant scenes as she finally got the chance to step out of her sister’s shadow.

Noemie and Jess Fox celebrate another gold medal.

The Paris Olympics belong to the Fox sisters.

After Jess Fox claimed double gold in the C1 (canoe) and K1 (kayak) events to become one of our greatest Olympians ever, her sister Noemie has won a stunning gold in the kayak cross in the early hours of Tuesday morning Australian time.

In her one event on her Olympic debut in Paris, Noemie had dominated all her early rounds, even beating her sister to make the final.

But she had some work to do in the final after the start when she was in second position. She made the decision to steer away from the early race-leader to attack another gate – and her perfect execution put her in front. and made a gamble to go.

It proved to be a masterstroke. Noemie hit the lead and held off France’s Angele Hug and Great Britain’s Kimberley Woods for the gold.

Noemie, 27, has long lived in her old sister’s shadow but got own her moment to shine.

There were heartwarming scenes as mum Myriam and Jess jumped into the water to celebrate with an emotional Noemie as she tried to soak in the special moment at bottom of the slalom course.

Noemie dominated all her races to get the gold. (Photo by Bertrand GUAY / AFP)

She was in tears when presented with her gold medal and singing ‘Advance Australia Fair’ on the top of the podium.

“I think I’m in shock,” she said.

“I was just so happy to make it through to the semi-final. That was my goal. Now just go and enjoy it. Today just went to perfection. I enjoyed every second.”

Noemie has had a perfect competition in the women’s kayak cross, winning every race she featured in – and she saved her best for last.

Jess was ecstatic for her younger sister, and the selfie they posted afterwards is going straight to the pool room.

“When I knocked her out, she said: ‘All right, take it all the way’,” Noemie revealed.

Noemie had to survive five do-or-die races in a row at the final Olympic quota race in Prague to qualify for the Games

Now her victory means the Fox sisters have swept all three women’s canoe slalom events at the Olympics.

“There’s so much respect, there’s so much admiration (but) it’s always been hard with just one spot available for the Olympics,” she said.

The Fox sisters. Picture: Instagram/jessfoxcanoe

Noemie gets her moment to shine. (Photo by Olivier MORIN / AFP)

“But when there were two, when there was that opportunity, she really helped me invest so much into my own campaign and my own self confidence, self worth, my ability to do so.

“I’m her biggest cheerleader, just like she’s mine. And so to be able to watch her win two gold and have that dream come true, I let myself live every emotion because I didn’t want to deprive myself from that and be so closed off for my race.

“It was just such a beautiful moment for our sport, for her and for our family and I knew she would be my biggest cheerleader once she was eliminated.”

Noemie opened up on the reality of living in her sister’s shadow.

“I think there’ll always be that shadow. She’s the greatest of all time in our sport,” she said.

“That’s something (that) when I was starting out was really hard to deal with.

“But watching her win, it’s just such a privilege and an 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’, that’s what you do.

Australia's Noemie Fox celebrates winning the women’s kayak cross. (Photo by Bertrand GUAY / AFP)

Jess Fox jumps into the water to celebrate with her sister. (Photo by Bertrand GUAY / AFP)

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

The victory means the Fox family is leaving Paris with three gold medals.

Aussie former swimming world champion Meagan Nay posted on Twitter: “Did that just happen …. Noemie Fox takes a Gold medal. This family is something else”.

A Eurosport commentator said: “It’s a gold to Fox. It’s just not the Fox we thought it would be.”

The same commentator earlier said: “It’s not all about Jess. Noemie can do it too.”

She couldn’t believe it. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

“It’s crazy to think this one’s mine,” Noemie said on Nine.

“I don’t want to say I’ve never dreamt of gold. I think it’s one of the wildest dreams you let yourself dream about. So to fuel you as an athlete.

“And when you see someone achieve that in our small sport, you think, wow, what a dream that they’re living like one day I hope I can do that too.”

“When I came out of this upstream and I saw that I was first, I haven’t heard the crowd. It’s just like a buzz. But I heard my mum do, like a guttural yell, and I thought, okay, just keep tracking.

“This feeling of crossing the line first, oh my gosh, I just want to relive that forever.

“It was amazing. And the crowd, it was insane. A bit of disbelief. It was crazy. And then Jess and mum jumping in the water. I thought mum was going to drown at one stage.”

This is the first time the kayak cross has been held at the Olympics.

It’s a glorious bash-and-crash event where competitors are in the water at the same time as their rivals, roll their boat upside down to squeeze under a horizontal barrier, and are allowed to shoulder charge round the large poles.