Jess Fox stares straight ahead, her fate bubbling and swirling and whirling in front of her. She glances calmly to her right, then back towards what lies ahead. Blinking slowly, deliberately. Pursed lips hide her trademark grin, the dimples gone but not forgotten. That glare – through icy blues eyes – bending the world to her whim.
Then the course’s surging current takes her. Nine strokes to the first test, a tricky upstream gate she pivots through with ease. Bounces down through two and three, her power on full display.
The first split flashes onto the big screen, down a half-second on runaway leader Elena Lilik now sitting in the hot seat 100m away. Down, but still within reach. Then through gates seven and eight, and Fox is labouring ever so slightly. Gold, perhaps too much to ask.
The Fox experience is exhausting, all pressure and expectation. In what has been stifling heat in eastern Paris this week, everywhere you look there is another Fox, stalking the banks or high up in broadcast. Surrounded by Australia’s sporting VIPs – Anna Meares, Kieren Perkins, Ian Chesterman. A green and gold fever dream.
Just imagine being one of her competitors. “I mean, I feel kind of guilty,” Fox says, recognising she might look a little too intimidating at the top of the course. “I’m so like, having this killer look while everyone’s like, ‘woo go Jess’. And there’s people trying to get my attention and say hello, and everyone’s acknowledging me from the crowd, and I’m just like, ‘no, because that’s how I have to get into my zone’.”
Then it kicks in. Through nine, 10, 11 and 12 she powers down the course, ripping a pirouette before ploughing on. The split flashes up. Somehow in an instant she has gained a second on the German.
Under the noses of nearly 10,000 spectators she swoops into the course’s distinctive central whirlpool. Two downstream gates taken backwards, before she slides through 17 against the current but towards the crowd. They are roaring by now, glancing up from the water to the big screen that has the Australian on top by… is that a mistake? Now two and a half seconds.
In recent months, Fox has barely left Australians’ screens. Entering the Games as the face of the team, expectations were high as she prepared for an Olympics in the country of her birth. Chosen as flag bearer, leading the team down the Seine, and then in kayak winning a gold medal.
Three days ago, the wait was excruciating. Her time in the final was quick – as the fifth runner of 12 – but the world’s best kayakers all had a chance to better it. None did, and in one of Australian sport’s great moments, Fox secured her second Olympic gold.
“I didn’t know how I’d feel after the kayak actually because, you know, there was so much joy and elation in that moment,” Fox says. “And sometimes that can leave you feeling pretty flat for the next event.”
She is last-but-one on Wednesday and 18 of 23 gates in, the splits show a podium-worthy performance. But Gabriela Satková – who beat Fox in a World Cup meet in Prague only last month – was still to run. On that day in June, Fox set the fastest time down the course, but fumbled the victory with two late gate touches.
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And then, there it is. The Australian slips under the inside of gate 19, and the judge initially waves it clean. But the green and white pole is swaying ever so slightly. Fox finishes almost five seconds ahead of Lilik in a spectacular time but there’s an asterisk on the official scoresheet, and gate 19 is under review. Almost simultaneously, Satková sets off on the final run.
These manic moments are the making of sport. A reeling consciousness, yearning for clarity, to reassure the heart or steel it for uncomfortable news. A nod from a commentator. Confirmation on screen. Anything will do, to stop that feeling like you’ve misplaced your phone.
Then from the mayhem, relief. The Czech makes an early touch, and falls well off the pace. Fox’ penalty is confirmed, but the margin is enough. Finally, on a historic day, the gold is hers.
“I felt a little bit different today, I think maybe more calm and more relaxed after the kayak, which almost made me nervous because I don’t normally feel that way,” she says. “I was a bit worried about it but, you know, in the end, it was a perfect day.”