Jess Fox OAM and Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi at the NSW Champions of Sport Awards.  Photos courtesy of Sport NSW

Tokyo Olympic Games canoe slalom gold medallist, Jessica Fox OAM has won the blue ribbon ‘Athlete of the Year’ award at the rebel NSW Champions of Sport Ceremony, which was held at the International Convention Centre, Darling Harbour.

It was a special night for the Fox family, with Jessica’s mother and coach, Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, voted ‘Coach of The Year’ for the first
time.

It was the fifth time Jessica was named Sport NSW’s Athlete of the Year, having previously won the coveted title in 2013, 2017 and 2018, and was a joint winner with swimmer Cate Campbell in 2021.

Jessica was the K1 Slalom World Champion for the fourth time when winning the event at the 2023 ICF World Championships – her 10th career individual gold medal in canoe slalom. She also teamed with sister Noemie and Kate Eckhardt to capture Australia’s first ever World Championship gold medal in the women’s Kayak Team event.

With one gold, one silver and two bronze medals from her three Olympic Games, 10 individual Canoe World Championship titles, another four team World Championship gold and 11 overall World Cup titles, Jessica is the world’s most decorated canoe slalom athlete of all time.

Guiding these successes was Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, a two-time Olympian and a Games bronze medallist for her native France. A highly successful coach for over 25 years, Myriam was also honoured by the International Olympic Committee last December when winning the IOC’s Coaches Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Penrith Panthers Rugby League team also snared back-to-back Team of the Year titles, after defeating the Brisbane Broncos 26-24 in an epic NRL Grand-final.