New Olympic champion in the kayak cross, Noemie Fox.Credit: AP
The unforgiving sunshine fell down through the blue above, bleaching the bleacher seats and singeing all skin, leaving nothing untouched and nowhere to hide.
On the baking banks of the whitewater course at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, it felt as though there were no shadows left, except of course for the one cast over Noemie Fox – the one she’s been living in all her life.
Jess.
It can’t be easy being the sibling of a transcendent talent, an icon, a GOAT. Tougher, too, when you choose to splash in those same waters, and pit yourself against your elder.
They were competitive as kids. “I think I was antsy, and trying to provoke her, but she was so calm,” said Noemie, moments after winning a gold medal in the women’s kayak cross. “And when you don’t get a reaction, you just stop.”
But she never stopped chasing. She never stopped digging her paddle into the wash, and dragging herself closer and closer to the back of that boat in front of her, all the way to this place, 22 kilometres east of Paris, and this moment, waiting behind the dais.
During the medal ceremony, the announcer began his introduction, and her face fell forward, incredulous and dumbstruck. Her head collapsed into her hands not on hearing her name either, but rather the words that came before it: Olympic champion.
“You don’t really dare to dream this big, but I did this time,” Fox explained later, clutching her gold medal, rubbing both sides, as if to make sure it wasn’t counterfeit. “It was pure joy – there’s no way to describe that feeling. It’s crazy that it’s mine.”
Jess wasn’t just some long theoretical shadow this week either. She was a direct competitor. Noemie knew she had to go through Jess to get past Jess. They met in a heat here yesterday.
“It was quite hard,” Noemie said, “and unsettling”.
But Jess didn’t get the start she was after, and sometimes that’s all it takes to derail a race in kayak cross. It’s not like horse racing, where you have time to pick and choose your moves and slowly mow down the field. There’s far less control. Jess was out, Noemie was in.
“But she invested so much in my campaign, and my own self-confidence, self-worth,” said Noemie – and it’s important that she says it, too, because there is no icy rivalry here, no Cain and Abel, no Noel and Liam. For readers of a certain vintage, let’s use a sunny sporty Aussie example. The Fox sisters are not the Lucas brothers of The Coolangatta Gold.
“I’m her biggest cheerleader,” says Noemie, smiling, “just like she’s mine”.
Noemie was now free, and Jess told her as much: “All right, take it all the way.”
“After that, she could just dream about going as far as she can, to deserve her place,” said her boyfriend and coach, Titouan Dupras. “Today when she came here, she was incredible, and composed, and willing to do the best.”
Richard Fox, her father – and now officially the worst performing Olympian in the family – is a Nine commentator, so he understands narrative, and how one was closed with Jess’ elimination, because no one was talking about a triple gold any more.
“It ended that story,” he said. “We were talking about Noemie.”
And her story, mind you, is one of a performer in her own right. Noemie Fox came into this race probably known best to most of us as the little sister, the plucky understudy. But she entered this final having finished first in her heat, her quarter-final and her semi-final. Before the Games began, she had beaten every competitor in this field. Fuelled by exactly the possibility of today, Noemie was commanding.
“I’ve never been so driven,” she said. “And when I got here, it was pure enjoyment. I spoke to my coach before and he said ‘You’re here, there’s nothing left to do but enjoy it’.”
Between races she did all her reflections, spent time with the people who calm her best, but she let herself out of the bubble, too, vibing off the crowd. And then it was time for the hurly-burly of a quietly brutal sport.
‘You don’t really dare to dream this big, but I did this time.’
Noemie Fox
There’s a phrase used on the combative American NASCAR circuit: Rubbin’ is racin’. It feels appropriate here, too, watching hulls bumped and rammed, and paddles flailed. On the whitewater slalom you have to fight for your place, but Noemie – we’ve already established – knows a thing or two about that. If she wasn’t born ready, she was surely raised ready.
“Everything she had worked on, she had to use,” said her dad. “It was a lesson in execution.”
She fought for her line early, chose the right time to split from the field, and the right side, too, yet still risked being steered out with a nudge from behind. “But she fought, fought, fought, fought,” and closed out the win.
Big sister was the first to celebrate, jumping into the swirling wash for a swim and hug. “There’s so much emotion in this moment. It’s amazing,” said Jess. “She nailed it. She was ahead from the first upstream and just held it together. And I’m, wow.”
Noemie Fox wins gold in the women’s kayak cross.Credit: AP
Her father is still somewhat amazed at the longevity of Noemie’s tenacity, how long she spent watching extended family members react to Noemie telling them that she is also a paddler, and saying “You do it, too?”
He likes to guess what she’s thinking right now. “I was the sister of somebody, and now I’m … somebody.”
And Noemie?
“There’ll always be that shadow,” she says, the full sun still beating hard. But watching Jess win was an inspiration, too, and not just because they are sisters, but because she’s the greatest.
“When someone like that believes in you, and tells you ‘You’ve got it – you’ve got to go and get it’, that’s what you do,” said Noemie. “And I’ve got my moment in the sun.”