For Noémie Fox, it was like all her Christmases had come at once.
As the ecstatic paddler won Olympic gold after years of disappointment, her mother, tearful sister and boyfriend-cum-coach all leapt into the swirling water to share an overjoyed hug.
It was a heartwarming scene that created a splash around the world. And Noémie — so often overshadowed by her champion sibling Jessica — is still riding the ripples from that fairytale triumph in the inaugural canoe slalom women’s kayak cross.
She’s still giddy when speaking of it today, as she gathers with her proud parents and boyfriend Titouan Dupras for a shoot with The Weekly, capping off what has been a stellar year.
“I know it will be the best moment in my life,” grins the newfound star, dimples flashing.
“When I saw I was first, it was pure joy. There are no words to describe that feeling. It was magical. We walked away with three gold medals in our family, which is insane.”
Canoe royalty, the Foxes are now one of Australia’s best-known sporting clans — thanks, in part, to that well-publicised Paris love-in.
Forget Christmas baubles! The family’s medals are almost enough to decorate their tree at home in Penrith near NSW’s Nepean River.
“They’re the best ornaments,” jokes Noémie, delighted to have added to that impressive treasure trove with the gold medal she has brought along as a show and tell today.
Big sister Jess is the most decorated paddler of all time, with 10 individual world titles and six medals — three of them gold — from four Olympics.
Mother Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, a powerhouse two-time Olympian, won bronze for France at the 1996 Games. And father Richard, 10-times slalom world champion, came fourth for Britain at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.
Given such huge achievements, it’s no small wonder the Foxes struggle to choose Yuletide gifts for each other.
“We kind of have everything we need,” laughs Noémie, who plans to enjoy the festive season overseas, visiting French family and friends with her long-term partner Titouan.
“We’re not really a consumerist family, so it’s hard to buy for people. We’re big on exchanging appreciation cards and we open any presents on Christmas Eve, in the European tradition. We have a big French-style meal with foie gras — not for me, because I’m vegetarian — and champagne.
“And after that, on Christmas Day, we just like spending time together with our grumpy little old lady dog, a greyhound foster called Miss Pink. We play some games, get into the outdoors — although Miss Pink doesn’t like flies — and reflect on the past year.”
After 12 astonishing months of striving, loss and triumph, there’s certainly a lot to contemplate.
Two new gold medals for Jess to add to her tally; the death of their much-loved paternal grandfather, Roger, aged 92; Noémie’s shining score against the odds.
Shut out of Olympic competition for years, due to big sister Jessica’s kayak dominance, she had grown all too used to playing second fiddle.
There was only ever one Australian selection spot available, and that never went Noémie’s way. It was frustrating and demoralising, being a member of the national team, but never making the main event.
“When you don’t have an Olympic opportunity it’s really hard to feel like a legitimate, credible elite athlete,” she admits. “I felt a lot of discouragement my whole career, you know, with Jess excelling so early on.”
Like Cinderella, it seemed Noémie never got an invitation to the ball. At one stage, hope sinking, she even hung up her paddle for six months and took a business internship in Switzerland.
“I always thought that I didn’t get the ingredients to do well in this sport. It’s really easy to feel that you don’t have the genes, and you’ll never get there,” she confides. “Anyone who’s experienced a similar situation understands the struggle and the comparisons and the expectations that come with it.
“There was always that shadow because Jess is the greatest of all time in our sport. But I’m her biggest cheerleader, just like she’s mine. Watching her win, it’s just such a privilege and inspiration and it really fuelled me.”
When a new contest – the “quietly brutal” women’s kayak cross — was introduced for the 2024 Olympics, unusually it offered two places for Australian women to compete.
“It’s always been hard with just one spot available for the Olympics,” says Noémie. “But when there were two, Jess really helped me and invested so much into my own campaign and self-worth.”
Newly energised, she grabbed the chance to qualify with both hands, paddling like a demon at the Prague Canoe Slalom World Cup in June.
But that success proved bittersweet. Sadly, Noémie’s grandfather Roger passed away the same night she finally earned her long-sought berth at the Olympics.
“It was a very tough obstacle,” the 27-year-old says emotionally. “I knew he was unwell, but I was so much in my own race and my own goals, I didn’t realise how sick he was that week.
“I had flowers after the podium presentation, and my dad asked to take them to Grandpa. That’s when I realised he would die very soon, and it happened that evening … He found out only a few hours before that I’d qualified, which brings me a lot of peace. But it was very hard to have such a huge high, and then such a big low.”
As so often before, Noémie was forced to pick herself up, dust herself off and start all over again.
“When I got that opening and could have a shot at Paris, I guess I took it to the next level of seriousness. I had always been scared of just being a kayaker and not getting the results. I didn’t want my whole sense of identity to be tied up with the sport. But this time I put all my eggs in one basket.”
It was very much a family affair with mother Myriam appointed primary coach, assisted by slalom cross specialist Titouan. Thirty-year-old Jess, already a veteran of three Olympic campaigns, was her training partner. Together, they made a top-flight team.
Noémie beat her sister out of contention in the early slalom cross rounds, virtually sailed through the quarters and semis, then blitzed her way to win the final. In the process, she grittily denied Aussie flag-bearer Jess her third gold of the Paris Games.
Excited father Richard, 64, rushing from Nine’s Olympic commentary box, considered it “amazing” Noémie had stuck it out, given her older sister’s dominance.
“That was the hardest thing, but the way she reframed it is a testament to her.”
Was this the culmination of some lifelong sibling rivalry? Not at all. Their chic, feisty mother, who grew up an only child in the south of France, always encouraged a tight bond between her look-alike daughters.
“I told them it was something special, a privilege to have a sister,” lilts 63-year-old Myriam. “Because Richard and I didn’t have family here in Australia, we always expected the girls to be really close. Just in case, you know.”
Born in France, brought up bilingual and raised in Western Sydney, the Fox girls experienced a nomadic childhood, travelling wherever their parents were competing. Early on, they became very accustomed to playing on riverbanks.
Noémie’s first kayak memories are of paddling in the lakes surrounding Forster-Tuncurry on laid-back family holidays to NSW’s mid-north coast. Launched by their father, the girls spun in circles until they eventually learned to control their craft.
At Blaxland High School in the lower Blue Mountains, Noémie was “a typical textbook-good student”. She liked English, biology and music, played piano and performed with the vocal and dance ensembles.
Gaining “pretty good” HSC results, she juggled consultancy work and sport after achieving a Bachelor of Arts with distinction in Media, Communication and Management, plus a Master of Management.
“I don’t want to say I was a teacher’s pet, but I never wanted to disappoint anyone,” she chuckles. “There was definitely a period in adolescence where I just wanted to fit in. I used to tell Mum she was embarrassing me by speaking French.
“But we learned so much from her. She always told us it was important to work hard and do well in class, so Jess and I really tried. We weren’t joined at the hip, we had different friends, but we’ve always been good companions.
“We both know sport is fleeting and, as hard as it is to compete against each other, it’s one small part of our lives. We’ll be sisters forever, it’s not worth ruining our relationship over.”
In some ways, they’re “yin and yang” even down to their hair. Noémie’s is straight, while Jess is a curly top. Noémie is emotional and fiery from her Gallic ancestry. Jess is calm and collected like their father. But according to “very proud coach and very proud mother” Myriam, they are both fine cooks in the classic French tradition.
“Jess is very good at compartmentalising things. Her mental strength is like this incredible resource,” the younger Fox enthuses. “She’s such a talented person, and very generous with her time. She’s like a wise mentor and really helped me manage my expectations going into Paris.
“But it’s difficult sometimes being the G.O.A.T [greatest of all time]. I’ve had a bit more freedom and, as the second child, got away with more. Jess has been a public figure since 2012 [when she won silver in London] and has to set an example.
“That’s definitely how we differ. I’ve been less in the public eye, with less of a sense of responsibility. Even now, winning gold, I feel like I’ve got the perks and can really enjoy my success, while Jess gets recognised all the time and has to represent us. She’s incredibly humble, a true champion.”
Since returning home to Australia post-Games, the family is slowly returning to everyday life.
For Noémie and Titouan, 29, that means settling back into their Penrith unit, meeting up with friends and just enjoying the great outdoors trail running in the nearby Blue Mountains.
Partners for seven years since meeting at a kayak world cup, he moved across the world to be with her.
So will they marry? “That’s a question my grandma asks me nearly every day,” Noémie laughs.
“And my mum too,” adds Titouan, who now coaches up-and-comers for Paddle Australia.
“I don’t feel that’s something really urgent on the cards. I’m still so young and have so much life ahead of me,” reasons Noémie, already busy planning her campaign for the next Olympics. “But marriage is definitely something I want to do — have a huge party for family and friends.
“And I definitely want to have children as well. If I do, they will be water babies. It’s such a deep-rooted part of my family, in my blood and in my genes. The river has taught me so many life lessons about resilience, perseverance, the power and beauty of nature.”
This Christmas holidays, she’ll relish the storybook magic of a frozen world in the French Alps. First, however, she’ll visit her adored grandmother Julie – who’s reached the grand old age of 89 – in Marseilles.
“I’m very excited, I love her and speak to her nearly every day,” says the Fox family’s most recent medallist. “Spending Christmas with my grandma, and then a week with Titouan’s family in the mountains between Lyon and Geneva! What could be better?”
Forever the elite athlete, she adds, “I’ve discovered a newfound love for cross-country skiing. It didn’t start off as the easiest sport to get into, but it’s really fun. Titouan’s been doing it all his life, so he’s teaching me.”
Just quietly, that could be a clue as to what she’ll unwrap on Christmas Eve. What DO you give the woman who has everything, including Olympic gold?
“I’ve maybe jinxed it, but I opened my gift from Titouan already,” Noémie reveals. “He bought me my very own pair of ski boots. My very first, not ones I’ve rented out! That’s one of my favourite presents ever, honestly.”
This article originally appeared in the Christmas 2024 issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly. Pick up the latest issue from your local newsagents, or subscribe so you never miss an issue!
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