Australia’s Jessica Fox etched her name into Olympic history on Wednesday, completing an unprecedented double after powering to victory in the women’s canoe single final to clinch her second gold of the games.
The win means the 30-year-old from Sydney — the daughter of British and French Olympians — is the first ever athlete to win golds in both Olympic canoe and kayak.
Fox had bagged her first gold of the Paris Games on Sunday when she won the kayak single final.
She then successfully defended her Tokyo Olympic canoe single final at the Vaires-sur-Marne whitewater venue with her score of 101.06.
That was enough to pip Germany’s Elena Lilik (103.54) and Evy Leibfarth of the United States (109.95).
The double means Fox is the first woman to both titles, in either men’s or women’s, since slalom became a permanent fixture on the Olympic programme in 1992.
“I don’t know how I did that, the atmosphere was incredible,” Fox said, saluting the deafening support from a wall of Australian supporters.
“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.”
Fox’s father Richard, a former canoe slalom champion himself, told Channel 9 “It is unbelievable”.
“It’s the most remarkable thing that she’s ever done.
“Outstanding performance, so proud … I’m just blown away.”
Fox’s mother and co-coach, Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, said her champion daughter’s achievement was unmatched.
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“In the sport of canoe slalom, she won’t be beaten by anybody any time soon,” she told Nine.
“The women are the ones that do the double category, you won’t see a lot of guys with double category.
“Extremely proud of what she delivered today because that was the mental effort more than anything else.”
It marked another proud chapter in the Fox family’s remarkable Olympic history. Born in Marseille and fluent in French, Fox is the daughter of two legends of the discipline, France’s Myriam Jerusalmi and Briton Richard Fox, who moved to Australia to coach the national canoe-kayak team shortly before the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
Fox now has six Olympic medals, including three gold, and can add to her impressive collection in the new kayak-cross event, a head-to-head race reminiscent of BMX or skicross, which will take place from August 2 to 5