TOKYO - Trailblazing Jessica Fox has won virtually everything on offer in a kayak except Olympic gold, and now she could claim two after spearheading a push to have a canoe event added to the program in Tokyo.
Regarded as perhaps the greatest paddler of all time with 10 world titles, the Australian claimed bronze in the K1 slalom at the 2016 Games in Rio and silver at London four years earlier.
After campaigning to ensure genders were equally represented in Japan, the 27-year-old now has an opportunity to further embellish her name in the history books with a canoe medal as well.
She called the addition of a women's C1 slalom event for the first time "huge for our sport".
Fox said only a handful of women were competing in both K1 and C1 in Tokyo, but she had been doing so at international level for more than a decade and was used to it.
"It's an amazing opportunity to be able to do both events," she said.
"We fought really hard to get to this point in my sport as women, so I am really proud to be the representative of Australia in the first women's C1 Olympic event.
"It's a big honour for all the women who fought for us to be in this position."
Men's canoe slalom made its debut at the Munich Olympics in 1972, but was then dropped before being reinstated at Barcelona in 1992 and has been a permanent fixture since.
Fox is fired up to be on the podium, warning she had her "blue steel" look on.
"I'm usually quite a smiley, bubbly person and then people are often quite surprised when they see me on the start because I'm quite fierce and focused," she said.
"I guess every athlete has their own way of getting into the zone. For some people there may be more smiling while others are a bit more intense or focused."
While a veteran of two previous Olympic campaigns, Fox said she would never get tired of the unique vibe of the event, and the opportunity to rub shoulders with people like teammate and tennis world number one Ashleigh Barty.
"She commented on one of my Instagram stories a few days ago and I was like, 'oh my god, Ash Barty sent me a message'," she said.
"I did spot her when I was walking to the bar and I was like, 'oh my god, Ash Barty is here'. How cool (that) I can say I'm one of Ash Barty's teammates in a way.
"I think it's one of the special things about the Olympics. We're all from different sports, but we're all teammates in these two weeks and we're all part of a bigger group of over 4,000 Olympians." - AFP. July 23, 2021
