Jessica Fox (canoeist)

Personal life

Fox is Jewish, and was born on 11 June 1994 in Marseille, France. She currently lives in Penrith, New South Wales. Fox's parents are Richard and Myriam, who both competed as canoeists at the Olympics, her father for Great Britain at the 1992 Games and her mother at the 1996 Games where she won a bronze medal for France. Her father is Second Vice President of the International Canoe Federation as well as Australian Canoeing's current high-performance manager, and a five-time world champion. Her mother Myriam Jerusalmi is Jewish; while her father is a gentile.

Fox attended Blaxland High School, and finished her HSC year by being first in New South Wales in the PDHPE in 2011 and had an ATAR score of 99.1. She is currently studying in the Elite Athlete Program at The University of Sydney where she is working on a degree in media/communications. She is studying a Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology) at Swinburne Online. She is bilingual in English and French.

Fox suffered a back injury that impacted her performance in 2012. In May 2012, she spoke at the Chullora Public School. She celebrated her 18th birthday on 11 June 2012 in Cardiff while competing at a World Cup event.

Canoeing

Fox races in K1 and C1 events. Her coach is her mother. She started in the sport in 2005 by canoeing on the Nepean River. She has a scholarship and is affiliated with the Australian Institute of Sport and the New South Wales Institute of Sport. In club competitions, she represents the Penrith Valley Canoe Club.

In September 2009, Fox made her Australian senior national team bid. She competed at the ICF World Ranking in Merano, Italy in 2009 where she finished third in the K1 event. At the 2009 AYOF event in Penrith, New South Wales, she finished first in the women's K1 event.

Fox won a bronze medal in the C1 event at the 2010 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in Tacen. At the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore, she won the gold in the girls' K1 slalom event. In 2010, she finished 1st in the women's C1 event at the ICF Slalom World Cup in Seu, Spain. In 2010, she finished 1st in the women's K1 event at the Junior World Championships in Foix, France. In 2010, she finished 1st in the women's C1 event at the Junior World Championships in Foix, France. In 2010, she finished 3rd in the women's C1 event at the World Championships in Sloka, Slovakia. In 2010, she finished 5th in the women's K1 event at the World Championships in Sloka, Slovakia. In 2010, she finished 1st in the women's K1 event at the Oceania Open in Penrith, New South Wales. In 2010, she finished 1st in the women's C1 event at the Oceania Open in Penrith, New South Wales. In 2010, she finished 1st in the women's C1 event at the National Championships in Eildon, Victoria. In 2010, she finished 3rd in the women's K1 event at the National Championships in Eildon, Victoria.

In 2011, Fox won gold medals in the C1 women's event at World Cups 2 and 3. At the 2011 World Championships in Szeged, Hungary, she finished 19th, which gave Australia an automatic spot in the event at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She won silver medals at Australian Open and the Oceania Championships in the women's K1 event in 2011.

Fox earned a spot in the women's K1 event representing Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics, in what was her Olympic debut, in which she won the silver medal. In April 2012, she trained on the Olympic course in London. She left Australia for overseas in advance of the 2012 Summer Olympics in May 2012. Her pre-Olympic schedule included World Cup competitions in Wales, France and Spain, and the Junior World Championship in the United States. In June 2012, she finished seventh in a World Cup race in Cardiff. She was the only Australian to make the finals, with her Australian teammates having been knocked out earlier. She finished in the top three in the women's C1 event.

In the London Summer Olympics Jessica won the silver medal in the K1 event. In the K1 Slalom event at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, England, Jessica, at the age of 18, gained competitive revenge against the 44-year-old Czech paddler Štěpánka Hilgertová, who had beaten her mother Myriam to the K1 gold medal in the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996, sixteen years earlier. Jessica's second in the final of the K1, improved on her mother's bronze from Atlanta 1996 and her father's 4th in Barcelona 1992 to earn the immediate nickname from her teammates and the press of "the Silver Fox".

She won her first World Championship titles in the C1 event and the C1 team event at the 2013 World Championships in Prague.

Fox won the overall world cup title in the C1 class in 2013, 2015 and 2017.

Honours

Fox was the 2010 Penrith Press Junior Sports Star of the year and NewsLocal Medal winner. She has also served as the ambassador for the Premier's Sporting Challenge. In 2010, she was also named the Cumberland Courier Junior Sport Star, NSWIS Junior Athlete of the Year and the Pierre de Coubertin AOC award. In 2009, 2010 and 2011, she was named the Junior Canoeist of the Year Australian Canoeing. In 2011, she was named the Australian Canoeing Athlete of the Year. She earned the AIS Secondary Education award in 2011. She was awarded AIS Sport Performance Awards – Athlete of the Year for 2014.

Television

In 2017, Fox will appear as a celebrity contestant on the Australian version of Hell's Kitchen.