Digging deep for history and double gold

Jessica Fox had to summon all her strength and tenacity to fight through a seething white water course to win her second Paris gold medal. Editor at Large Louise Evans was in awe.     

The ecstasy came first. After a tough, teeth-gritting fight down the white water Jessica Fox won her second gold medal in Paris and defended her Tokyo Olympic title in the canoe slalom.

But she had to fight the white water the whole way, battle to catch the waves, attack the rapids to stay on top of the water and barge her way through the rotations. 

Then came the agony. An asterisk appeared beside her name on the scoreboard. Her run was under review. Had she touched a gate as she grunted and grimaced her way down the foaming course?

The asterisk stayed there as the last paddler, Czech two-time world champion Gabriela Satkova, came down the course and cracked under the pressure, surrendering the gold to Fox who did incur a two-second penalty with a touch at gate 19.

It didn’t matter. Fox won gold in 101.06 seconds, Germany’s dual world champion Elena Lilik clocked 103.54 and 02.48 seconds behind in silver while young American Olympic debutant Evy Leibfarth took the bronze, also with a two-second penalty in 107.95.

The Australian flag bearer is now a three-time Olympic champion, a 10 time world champion and one of Australia’s greatest all-time athletes. She is the first non-swimmer to win three individual Olympic gold medals since the late Betty Cuthbert who won the 100m and 200m sprints at the Melbourne 1956 Games and the 400m in Tokyo 1964.

“This has been a dream Games,” she said. “As an athlete, you put in the blood, sweat and tears, and the team invests in you. For it to come down to one day every four years, and then to actually pull it off, is the best feeling in the world. It does not always go your way and I have experienced that as well. For it to turn out this way, it has been the perfect Games and so magical to be here in Paris.”

And she is not finished.

On Monday August 5, she’ll vie for her third Paris gold in the aggressive new Olympic event of kayak cross along with her little sister Noemie. 

Thanks to Fox, Australia’s Olympic sports women have now won gold on every day of the first five days of the Paris Games. Day One – Ariarne Titmus in the 400m freestyle and the women’s 100m relay plus Grace Brown road cycle time trial. Day Two – Jess Fox kayak. Day Three – Mollie O’Callaghan 200m Freestyle. Day Four – Kaylee McKeown 100m backstroke. 

“I don’t know how I did that, the atmosphere was incredible,” Fox said afterwards. “I looked out and I saw so much green and yellow – so many Aussie flags and I think that was the best run I’ve ever done.

“I knew once I had got through the hard moves it was about trying to get to the finish and holding it together, and wow.

“It was incredible to see the support here and celebrate with my family and team as well. I am over the moon.”

With six individual medals Fox has also become Australia’s most successful individual Olympic medallist, surpassing Ian Thorpe, Leisel Jones, Shirley Strickland, Shane Gould, Anna Meares and Ariarne Titmus, all with five each.

Both her mum and dad who are elite world paddlers were in awe of their daughter’s achievement.

“That was the best, the hardest, most remarkable thing she’s ever done,” her father Richard said. 

“Where does that all come from – that energy in the tank. You can’t let loose on that course. She likes to attack but you can’t.”

Coach and mother Myriam almost took out a course official as she leapt on her daughter for a choking hug.

“She won’t be beaten by anyone or anything soon,” Myriam said. “I am extremely proud of what she delivered. That was a mental effort more than anything else. It was an outstanding performance I am so proud. I am blown away.”   

Fox put herself in podium position by qualifying second fastest for the final with a strong, fast, clean run in 106.08 seconds to join the final 12.

It meant she had the honour of starting second last in the final behind Satkova.

In the final Lilik was the sixth paddler down the run and the German threw down the gauntlet with a 103.54 run which she celebrated with a wave-splitting scream. 

Fox was the only paddler to challenge her as Satkova, paddling last, incurred a two second penalty in a slow run and finished seventh.

“That was the worst thing ever. I am so disappointed,” Satkova said.

Fox has now won six individual Olympic medals, an Australian record, including three gold, a silver and two bronze.

The chances of her scoring a third Olympic gold in Paris are high. She has already survived a brutal test event enroute to Paris when she emerged with three gold medals from all three events in three consecutive days in Krakow Poland at the last pre-Games ICF World Cup event (June 14-16).

In doing so she became the first paddler in history – male or female – to sweep the field in all three disciplines.

“I felt like quite different today, really relaxed,” Fox said. “It was perhaps the best state, one of calmness and confidence. It was game-on. How cool is this to defend my title and I can’t believe the gold medal is in my hands now. It’s just surreal. It’s special to know I have been able to back it up.”