Jessica Fox has won her second gold medal in three days and her third overall, further cementing her legacy as one of the winningest Jewish and Australian Olympians of all time.
Fox captured gold Wednesday in the canoe single, finishing at 101.06 seconds — 2.48 seconds faster than the German silver medalist, even after a two-second touch penalty. Fox won gold in the same event at the Tokyo Olympics.
The win gives Fox, 30, six career medals: three gold, one silver and two bronze medals. She is now the most decorated Olympic canoe slalom competitor ever, and the only Australian Olympian in history with six individual medals. Fox won her first gold medal of the Paris Games Monday in the kayak slalom event. She had served as one of Australia’s flag bearers in last week’s opening ceremony.
The winningest Jewish Olympian of all time is swimmer Dara Torres, who won a total of 12 medals and retired after the 2000 Olympics. Swimmer Mark Spitz, who competed in the 1960s and 1970s, won 11. Gymnast Aly Raisman, like Fox, won six.
“I don’t know how I did that, the atmosphere was incredible,” Fox said after her win. “I looked out and I saw so much green and yellow — so many Aussie flags and I think that was the best run I’ve ever done.”
Fox’s Jewish mother and coach, Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, who was a bronze medalist for France at the 1996 Olympics, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the victory only adds to her daughter’s singular record in the sport.
“[History books were] rewritten before that one already,” Fox-Jerusalmi said. “And this one. In the sport of canoe slalom, she won’t be beaten by anybody any time soon.”
“Extremely proud of what she delivered today because that was the mental effort more than anything else,” Fox-Jerusalmi added.
Fox’s father Richard called the gold medal “the most remarkable thing she’s ever done.”
Fox has another chance to add to her total: She will compete in the kayak cross event on Friday, alongside her younger sister, Noemi Fox.
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