Slalom canoeists Jessica and Noemie Fox have competed against each other since they were children but this is the first year they have both raced at the Olympics. Everyone in their family is an Olympic athlete: mother Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi won bronze at the Atlanta 1996 Games for K1, while their father Richard Fox represented Britain in the same event at the Barcelona Games in 1992. Jess, 30, made her Olympic debut as an 18-year-old at the 2012 London Games, going on to compete in Rio, Tokyo and Paris and winning six medals, .
Although younger sister Noemie, 27, has been competing at the international level since 2013, she has previously missed out on a spot on the Olympic team because Australia's only slot went to Jess. But a new Olympic event introduced this year — — finally gave Noemie a chance to represent her country. On their return from Paris, Jess and Noemie talk about what it was like to compete against each other, and the moment Noemie finally joined the rest of her family, not just as an Olympian but as a gold medallist.
Ever since I can remember. Both my parents are Olympians so I naturally thought I'd be an Olympian and then I realised, 'Oh, it's much harder than I thought'. Source: Getty / AFP Yes, there were moments.
There's just one person that gets a spot for our country in the [C1 and K1] event, and that's always been [my sister] Jess, and she's at the top of her game and she's unbeatable. But deep down, I just really trusted the process; I knew that I lo.