Jewish Australian woman wins medal in fourth straight Olympics

For Jewish Olympics legend Jessica Fox, the fourth time was the charm.

Fox, 30, regarded by many as the greatest paddler of all time, captured her second career Olympic gold medal on Sunday, and fifth overall in her career, in the women’s kayak slalom. Fox had won a silver medal in the event in 2012 and bronze in both 2016 and 2020.

“It means everything to me right now,” Fox told reporters after her victory, according to ESPN.

“I think it’s been years and years of chasing this dream of getting really close, of persevering and picking myself back up.”

Fox’s Jewish mother and coach, Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, was a bronze medalist in the event for France at the 1996 Olympics after not placing in 1992.

Fox, whose first career gold medal had come in the canoe slalom event at the Tokyo Olympics, is now tied with Slovakia’s Michal Martikan for the most Olympic medals in canoe slalom events. She will compete in the canoe event Wednesday and the kayak cross event on Friday. Her gold medal win on Sunday also made her the first woman to medal in the kayak event in four straight Olympics.

The four-time Olympian served as one of Australia’s flag bearers at Friday’s opening ceremony, an honor she called “probably the greatest moment of my career.” Fox was born in Marseille, France, but moved to Australia at four years old.

Fox had placed first in Saturday’s heat, but started off slowly in the semifinals, earning two two-second penalties and at one point ranking eighth out of 12 finalists. But Fox recovered and ultimately finished with a time of 96.08 seconds, 1.45 seconds faster than the silver medalist.

“I think it was just the perfect day for me. It didn’t start well, but it finished really well and it was just magical,” Fox added.