After years of hard work, Jess Fox, a student in the Elite Athletes program at the University of Sydney in Camperdown, has clinched her first Olympic gold medal for the inaugural C1 canoe slalom category at the Tokyo Olympics.
The powerful paddler has been chasing the gold since her debut at the 2012 London Olympics but her tough grind started back in 2000 when her father moved the family from Marseille in France to Sydney.
Here are five interesting things to know about Jess Fox:
1. Canoeing is in her blood.
Born in Marseilles in 1994, Jess comes from a family of paddlers. Her parents, Richard Fox and Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, both competed in the Olympics as canoeists. Her dad represented Team Great Britain in 1992 and her mother was in the 1996 Games for Team France, where she won a bronze medal.
Jess’s sister, Noemie, and aunt, Rachel Crosbee, are both slalom canoeists as well and have won medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships. Rachel was in the 1992 Olympics with Richard.
At 11, Jess didn’t want to become a canoeist but an accident left her with a broken arm. Her doctor advised that paddling will help with her body’s rehabilitation. From there, she was hooked.
To achieve her goal for the gold, Jess trained with her mother in Penrith, where the family is based.
2. Jess Fox has been raking medals in local and international competitions since 2010.
At 16, Jess was named the Junior Canoeist of the Year by the Australian canoeing sports governing body. Two years later, she was the 2012 Australian Canoeing Athlete of the Year and was awarded the AIS Sport Performance Award Female Athlete of the Year in 2018.
Jess nabbed the gold at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships C1 class five times — 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 — and twice for the K1 class in 2018 and 2019.
She is the first woman in the history of canoeing sports to win at two classes (C1 and K1) in one year at the U23 World Championship in Penrith and at the World Championships in the USA in 2014.
The gutsy athlete also made history as the first woman to win back-to-back Olympic medals for canoeing. Just days before her C1 win in Tokyo, she won bronze at the K-1 Canoe slalom category.
3. She is number one in academics, too!
A graduate of Blaxland High School, Jess was at the top of the PDHPE (Personal Development, Health and Physical Education) curriculum for New South Wales in 2011 and had an ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank) score of 99.1. She was the Dux of Blaxland in her senior year.
She took up communications at the University of Sydney. She has also attended Melbourne’s Swinburne Online for her degree in Bachelor of Social Science major in Psychology.
4. The sports star is a dog lover.
Her social media platforms are filled with various dog selfies. Whilst training for the Tokyo Olympics, Jess fostered Pink, a greyhound, who has helped her improve her speed and agility. Pink has also been a calming presence around Jess. The dog clears her mind, which is also an integral part of an athlete’s training.
However, because she has been training and traveling frequently for the competitions pre-COVID, Jess is not yet able to commit to being a pet parent full time. Her goal, however, is to adopt a dog permanently when she retires from competing.
5. Jess Fox also competed as a chef!
In 2017, she temporarily ditched her paddle for a laddle and competed in Australia’s version of Hell’s Kitchen in 2017, where she nearly perfected a chicken skewer with curry powder and spring onion dish. She finished in 7th place.