Article by Robert Craddock, courtesy of the Herald Sun.
Richard Fox, a cool, reserved man never to be swept away by the moment, was swept away by the moment.
And you couldn’t blame him given what his daughter Jess had just done for Australia. And herself. She has now won six individual gold medals – the most by any Australian Olympian. There are times when tiny Olympics sports surge up through the clouds and take us to a special world where a moment of greatness can live with any sport at any time. That’s what happened today when canoeist Fox produced one of the most stirring pressure performances in Australian sport.
She was the kicker who nailed it from the sideline to win a grand final. She was that basketballer who nailed the three pointer for the title.
Actually she may well have been better than them because Olympics only happen every four years, never mind ones in the country where you were born and which you have dreamt about every day since they were announced seven years ago.
Fox’s effort to defend her CI Olympic title, somehow mastering fierce and furious rapids which had tugged every other competitor bar German silver medallist Elena Lilik off course, was stirring stuff.
A group of Australian officials which chased her down the course bank jumped and celebrated as if they were auditioning for a Toyota ad but the most telling reaction came from her father, the former great British paddler Richard.
When she met her father in the media room after her first gold medal this week, Jess greeted him with a surprised “oh hi’’ as if he had suddenly returned from a few days away and she just remembered she forgot to put those chicken tenders on for dinner.
Being a self-confessed stiff upper lip Brit who is big on not getting too high or low, Richard enjoyed that because it kept her grounded for today’s race. But some performances demand that corks must come off emotional bottles and this was one of them. This time father and daughter raised their arms then had the long passionate embrace which said everything about the magnitude of what she had achieved.
“Look, amazing … I’m astonished,’’ he told me. “It was just the sense of drama. It was
a hot sticky day. Everyone was struggling on course. Lilic was phenomenal. She brought the race to life. I honestly don’t know where Jess drew that from. You run out of energy at some point.
“She had to dig incredibly deep. It was not the best top. She scrambled around gate 7
and lost a bit of time. I am amazed really.’’
It was a masterful union of a mind programmed by the outstanding intellect of the great student she was with a body which somehow remained as lithe as an otter despite pressure which would make most humans turn ramrod stiff. Fox had the school marks to be a doctor but through her sport has found another way for people to open their mouths and say “aaagh’’.
The white water crowds know their stuff and there was a point where the crowd exploded with a massive roar and the paddler pumped her fists in jubilation at the expectation that this was the gold winning performance.
We are not talking Fox. That Germany’s Lilic who produced the run of her life and you could tell by her jubilation she sensed a gold medal was on the way. When the cameras then panned to Fox her serious face told the story. It was time for a supreme performance.
And she delivered.
Somehow she managed to look relaxed all day, from stopping for a quick word to a security worker caught in the hot sun to offering plenty of hugs to fellow competitors, waving to the crowd whenever her name was mentioned. The only time an announcement went unrecognised was when she was introduced for the final and on came the warrior face and off she went. Fox has seen it all in her Olympic career. Jubilation, utter despair, middling results. But this was one for the ages.
Australia has a new sporting superstar.
