Olympic medalist Jessica Fox has expressed regret for making an insensitive remark about her dad following her significant win at the games.
The French-born Australian slalom canoeist earned another Olympic medal thanks to her performance in the K1 event at the 2024 Paris Games. This marks her second gold in Paris this year, following her gold at Tokyo 2020, silver at London 2012, and bronze at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. Quite the track record, right?
The Fox family has even more reasons to celebrate since Jessica’s sister, Noemie, also clinched a gold medal in the inaugural women’s slalom kayak cross event.
Athletic prowess clearly runs in the family. Their parents, Richard Fox and Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, are also champions in the canoeing world.
French canoeing star Myriam competed internationally from 1979 to 1996, earning a bronze in the K1 at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. She also secured ten medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships and won the World Cup title three consecutive times from 1989 to 1991.
Meanwhile, Richard represented Great Britain for two decades, securing ten gold medals at the World Championships.
However, Richard is the only family member without an Olympic medal, having narrowly missed out at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Jessica made light of her dad’s near-miss during an interview after her sister Noemie’s victory.
Speaking to Australian TV, Jessica jested about her dad’s luck, stating, “It means that poor dad is the only one without an Olympic medal!”
“What a moment for our family. What a moment for these games,” she continued.
However, Jessica later acknowledged that her comment might have been too harsh.
“I was pretty savage in my interview, and I realised after that was really mean,” she told Australian broadcaster Channel Nine.
“Sorry, Dad. You have a great resume, 10-time world champion, amazing! We’ve got four gold medals in the family, so there’s one for everyone.”
Jessica took to Instagram to reflect on her triumphant K1 win, calling it a ‘magical day on the water.’
“The race I’ve been dreaming about & working towards for so long,” she wrote in the caption alongside photos of her with her gold medal.
“To feel the nerves and the pressure, but also calm & focused as I stared down the course in the starting blocks, and to cross the finish line knowing I’d left it all out there… just proud.”
She added, “It was incredible to race in front of that crowd with that atmosphere – thank you, merci!”
The 21-year-old French pole vaulter attempted to clear the 5.70 meters on 3 August when his knee – along with his private parts – got in the way, shattering his Olympic dreams.
Turkey’s Yusuf Dikec took a laid-back approach, spotted looking incredibly relaxed with one hand in his pocket and without any shooting gear on.
It all paid off as he secured the silver along with his partner Sevval Ilayda Tarhan.
Setting a new personal best, Lyles emerged victorious by a margin of just 0.005 seconds, with a final time of 9.784.
The final also marked the fastest race ever, with all eight athletes finishing in under 10 seconds.
Chaos ensued when five athletes stumbled on the track, including Team GB’s George Mills and French runner Hugo Hay.
Mills seemed to have some harsh words for Hay after the fall, admitting he was ‘probably not allowed to say’ what he felt.
Snoop went viral after arriving at the dressage team Grand Prix Special fully decked out in breeches, a dressage tailcoat, and a hard hat alongside Martha Stewart. Iconic.
Ana Carolina Vieira was sent home after she and her boyfriend Gabriel Santos – also an Olympian swimmer – left the village without permission, violating Olympic Village rules.
Coxswain Henry Fieldman made history by winning bronze in the women’s crews event, following his bronze win in Tokyo with the men’s team.
Fieldman was able to achieve this due to a 2017 rule change allowing coxes of any gender to steer the eights.
While Canada’s Tyler Mislawchuk vomited after swimming in the river, Belgian triathlete Jolien Vermeylen admitted she ‘felt and saw things that we shouldn’t think about too much.’
This occurred after health concerns were raised regarding the river’s pollution levels, with the country spending £1.18 billion on cleaning it up for the games.
The Team USA star intentionally performed leisurely in his first heat of the Men’s 110m hurdles, finishing last with a time of 18.27 seconds.
The athlete revealed it was a calculated move to avoid worsening a sore muscle in his leg, knowing he’d have another chance due to repechage rounds.
The pool at the Paris La Défense Arena is only 2.15 meters deep, which falls short of the 2.5 meters recommended by World Aquatics for Olympic competition, causing backlash from viewers.
This depth discrepancy creates ‘slow’ swimming, where the water is more turbulent than in a deeper pool.
The Algerian boxer faced Italy’s Angela Carini in a round of 16 match on 1 August when Carini – who later apologized – abandoned the match after 46 seconds.
Khelif – who was born and raised a girl – was disqualified from last year’s Women’s World Boxing Championships amid claims from the International Boxing Association that she did not meet their unspecified eligibility criteria.
Khelif has since been embroiled in a gender controversy and urged people to ‘refrain from bullying all athletes’ amid online abuse.
