French connection boosts Australian Fox for more canoe slalom glory

MELBOURNE : Born in Marseilles to an Olympic medal-winning French mother, Australian canoeing great Jessica Fox will savour a unique Games in Paris when she paddles for more glory in the slalom events.

Fox will bid for back-to-back gold medals in the women's canoe singles (C-1) at her fourth Games, while also hunting podiums in kayak singles (K-1) and the new Olympic category, kayak cross.

Coached by her mother Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, who won K-1 bronze for France at the 1996 Atlanta Games, Fox will have no problem getting into the swing of things in Paris.

"Being born in France and having family there makes this Games very different and unique - and a bit more special," the 14-times world champion told Reuters before training in Paris.

"I've got all the advantages of understanding the language and feeling comfortable here.

"Spending time here doesn't feel exhausting like when you travel in a different country with a different culture."

If anyone was ever destined for canoeing success it might be Fox, whose father Richard won five individual K-1 world championships for Britain in the 1980s and '90s.

Fox's younger sister Noemie has also contributed to the family's bursting trophy cabinet by winning team world titles with Fox in K-1 (2023) and C-1 (2019).

The sisters could have represented either of their parents' nations but moved to Australia when they were small children.

Fox-Jerusalmi will again coach in an Australian tracksuit while Fox's canoeist boyfriend Mathieu Biazizzo, who won K-1 team world titles for France in 2014 and 2021, will be in support.

"The French connection is there but I've grown up in Australia and I feel very much at home there," said Fox, long based in Sydney's outer western suburbs.

"I'm very Aussie. But