After a decade of playing second fiddle to her winner-take-all big sister, Noemie Fox triumphed on sport’s highest altar. Editor at Large Louise Evans watched the delicious victory unfold.
There is no better way to step out of the towering shadow of your big sister than to do it with a beaming gold medal and a megawatt winning smile.
Noemie Fox stepped up where elder sister Jess faltered to dominate the new harem-scarem bump-and-bruise Olympic kayak cross event on a scorching summer’s day in Paris.
Fox, 27, has loitered in the intimidating shadow of her 30-year-old sister for a decade and been her biggest supporter every step of the way.
It was a role she thought she’d play to her grave until the kayak cross was introduced as an Olympic event.
The kayak cross is roller derby on rapids. Four paddlers are dropped into the white water and have to battle each other and the current to get to the finish line. It’s not unusual for there to be blood in the water as paddlers smack and slap their way through the gates and past each other.
It was an event made for Noemie who has a good level of mongrel to add to her strength, persistence, determination and cunning.
“It feels surreal,” Noemie said as she cradled her long-awaiting Olympic gold medal. “It’s crazy that it’s mine. I experienced Jess’s gold medal moment in Tokyo, and then the two golds she won here and I know how much hard work and effort she’s put into that.
“You don’t really dare to dream this big, but we really did. I dared to dream to get to the Olympics, and then to get to that final. When I saw I was first, it was pure joy. There’s no words to describe that feeling.”
Noemie qualified for the Olympics at the last World Cup in Prague (June 6-9) and was the last member of the Australian team named for Paris.
That was the first turning point. Sister Jess was racing along the Prague course, cheering, crying. It was always Noemie doing that. The tide had turned.
In Paris Jessica did what she’s been doing best for 10 years. She won gold in the kayak and successfully defended her Tokyo Olympic canoe title. Two golds down – one to go.
But Jessica didn’t qualify for kayak cross. She was knocked out in heat, the same heat Noemie won.
That was the second turning point. Noemie no longer had to keep looking left and right for Jessica. It was her time. It was her event. It was her gold medal to chase.
“I knew she was going to be my biggest cheerleader once she was eliminated,” she said.
Noemie went onto win her quarter final and semi final. Father Richard said she was “in the right headspace” for the final and “everything she’d worked on she used to fight for the line”.
“She got a good start, she held her position, she did the turns well and when she got challenged, she held her line,” Richard said.
“When she came over the line first, she was in shock. I’m in shock. She was shaking, it’s incredible. Jess has always been a machine who over over many years has delivered.
“So Noemie had to reinvent herself. Now she’s going to be able to tell her story for the rest of her life. Always the sister of somebody, and now, really somebody.
“I’m now officially the worst performing Olympian in the family.”
Richard is a world champion paddler, wife Myriam is a Olympic bronze medallist, Jessica is a 10-time world champion and three time Olympic champion and now Noemie is an Olympic champion too. Poor Dad.
Richard said he’s struggled to watch Noemie play the role of second fiddle, the understudy, the Fox who wasn’t an Olympian – for a decade.
“It was hard to watch her for so many years being in the shadow,” Richard said. “She struggled with that. She’s stuck it out longer than most and that’s brutal. That’s been the hardest thing for me.
“She didn’t give it away. She stayed in. So she’s got that resilience, but there was a lot of pain in that journey for her. She embraced it and and owned it
“She reframed herself and that is a testament to her. She’s smart, and instead of being emotional about it, she figured it out. In Prague when she qualified that was gold in itself.”
When Noemie came over the finish line in the Paris final, big sister Jessica jumped in the water to give her a smothering hug. So did mother Myriam. “I thought mum was going to drown me,” she said later. French boyfriend/coach Tituoan Dupras also joined the baptism. While Noemie was gasping for breath Jessica couldn’t stop babbling.
“I’m full of emotion, it’s just incredible what Noemie did, to go through each round with so much composure,” Jess said.
“I was so nervous and just wanted her to have a good race and she nailed it. She got in front at the first upstream and just held it together.
“The cross suits her because if she can get in front she can control it, where it’s a bit hit and miss for me. I don’t have the same moves that she does.”
“When people ask me ‘Jess did you get three gold medals in Paris’ I can say ‘no just two because Noemie got one’.
“It’s the ultimate fairy tale. It’s so special to come away with three gold medals, what a moment for our family. Poor dad is the only one without any Olympic medals.”
Noemie said her experience of qualifying in Prague and how she refused to give up on her Olympic dream had given her the fire to fight for Olympic gold.
“It’s about not backing down and I was here to give it everything,” she said. “This is years of hard work and today just panned out to perfection.
“I’ve enjoyed every second of being at the Paris Games and the privilege of being here. It’s just insane and I’m so proud of the whole campaign and the whole journey.
“Of course I’ll be going to Los Angeles (Olympics), I will still be young by then. This has fueled the fire.”
Come the LA Olympics Jessica will be 34 while her little sister will be 31.
It may just be Noemie’s time to shine next time.
Louise Evans is an award-winning journalist who has worked around Australia and the world as a reporter, foreign correspondent, editor and media executive for media platforms including The Sydney Morning Herald (eight years), The Australian (11 years) and Australian Associated Press (six years in London, Beijing and Sydney).
A women sports’ pioneer, Louise was the first female sports journalist employed by The Sydney Morning Herald and the first female sports editor at The Australian. Louise went on to work at six Olympic Games, six Commonwealth Games and numerous world sporting championships and grand slam tennis events.
Louise is the Founding Editor of AAP FactCheck, the Creator of #WISPAA – Women in Sport Photo Action Awards and national touring Exhibition and the author and producer of the Passage to Pusan book, documentary and exhibition.
In 2019 she was awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) Queen’s Honour for services to the media and sport and named an Australian Financial Review Top 100 Woman of Influence for services to the arts, culture and sport.
In 2020 she won a NSW Volunteer of the Year Award plus the NSW Government Community Service Award for her women-in-sport advocacy work.
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