Noemie Fox made a dream come true when she claimed a silver medal in the kayak cross at the International Canoe Federation World Cup meet in Prague at the weekend.
Fox crossed the finishing line in the final in third place, but was promoted after winner Tereza Kneblova was defaulted for missing a gate. And silver at the last regatta of the season was enough for her to secure Australia one of three quota positions for the Paris Olympic Games.
She will now make her Olympic debut in Paris while her sister Jess will be making a record fourth Olympic appearance. The pair are members of the Sydney University Boat Club and former members of the Sydney University Sport and Fitness Elite Athlete Program.
Noemie, a Master of Management graduate, raced through five events to achieve the quota spot in the new Olympic kayak cross event in Prague. “It’s been such a long journey,” she told the ABC’s Simon Smale. “I feel so grateful to have had the most incredible support team here with me and to be able to celebrate it and join the Australian Olympic team, and join my sister, it’s so incredible and I’m so happy.”
She said the semi-final, where she came up against the reigning world champion, the past world champion and European medallist was probably the hardest thing. “Once I got through that and I was in the final and I was just wanting to enjoy it and not come last, and that’s what I did,” she said. “Paris has always been a distant dream and one that I wanted to latch onto, while staying a little bit rational knowing that there were so many steps to get to this day and where we are.”
Fox is the latest in a paddling dynasty that started with her father, British paddler Richard Fox, a 10-time world champion and bronze medallist at the 1992 Olympics, and her mother, Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, who won a bronze medal at the 1996 Games for France.
Her sister Jess, who has a degree in media-communications and was 2012 Female Blue of the Year, is a a legend of the sport with one gold, one silver, and two bronze medals in three Olympics and 10 World Championships. She earned her Paris selection last year. The nomination criteria under Paddle Australia expresses eligibility for early nomination if athletes achieved specified benchmark results during the 2023 season. Jess was able to secure this with wins in the overall World Cup titles in all K1 and C1 classes.
Both sisters were born in the southern French city of Marseille before the family moved to Australia. “I think [Paris] it’s going to feel a bit like a home Olympics, being half French and with such a huge family and fan base in France,” Noemie told AAP said. “To be able to line up with Jess as well and the other two Australians, Tristan [Carter] and Tim [Anderson] it’s just going to be so incredible and I can’t wait to start thinking about that journey.”
Paddle Australia is expected to nominate Noemie to the Australian Olympic Committee in the coming weeks. The canoe slalom events in Paris will begin on July 27.
