Noemie Fox

Paddler Noemie Fox, a member of Australia’s most famous paddling family, made her Olympic debut as a 27-year-old at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in the new Olympic discipline of kayak cross.

Competing in the individual event alongside her sister Jessica, the world's greatest paddler, Noemie showed her class and achieved an unexpected gold medal in the event, becoming the first Olympic kayak cross champion in history.

In the heats in Paris the sisters were literally competing alongside each other, launching side-by-side into the whitewater where a top-two finish was required in the four-person heats to advance to the quarter-finals.

Noemie won the heat and Jess was caught behind early and couldn't recover for a top-two finish.

“We didn’t want to knock either of us out, the goal was to have two Australians through as far as possible and it would have been great to meet later on and do that final together," Noemie said.

"She (Jess) won the last World Cup, she’s a multiple world champion in this discipline so it goes to show how rough and unpredictable the kayak cross is and for the world champion to be knocked out before the quarter-finals says a lot about this field.”

In the Olympic final Noémie made what proved to be a race-winning move around the first upstream gate to gain a lead she never conceded.

“I enjoyed every single second of racing, of just being here. The privilege of being at the Olympics and showing up in your best form mentally and physically."

Jess and her mother and coach Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi ran the length of the course to witness the historic final and leapt into the whitewater to celebrate, while her dad Richard Fox was commentating the final on the Channel 9 live broadcast.

Noemie is youngest member of a paddling family 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.

Both Noemie and Jess were born in the southern French city of Marseille, which made the Paris Games somewhat of a home environment for them.

Coming from a family so connected to the sport, Noemie can’t remember exactly when she took up paddling.

“It's hard to pinpoint a date as I always remember being around the sport,” she said. “I started competing competitively when I was 14.”

She has been competing at international level since 2013 and won medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in 2017, 2019 and 2023.

However, it wasn't until one month before the Paris 2024 Olympics that Noemie qualified to compete at Paris 2024.

Noemie had to achieve a podium finish at the Prague Canoe Slalom World Cup to qualify for the Olympics, and six races later Noemie survived all the knockout rounds and had a come from behind performance in the final to win silver.

This time she would be going to the Olympics to compete, not to just spectate or to be a Games volunteer like she was at Tokyo 2020.

“It’s been such a long journey and I feel so grateful to have had the most incredible support team here with me," Noemie said.

Mum Myriam, who coaches both Fox sisters, was delighted to have two daughters going to the Olympics for the first time.

“It’s a dream," Myriam said. "It’s like an Olympic gold for me to have two girls at the Olympics. It’s a dream come true for Noemie. She’s been working hard … I’m just so happy.”