Noemie Fox, right, celebrates with Jessica Fox after winning gold in the canoe slalom women’s kayak cross final at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Aug. 5, 2024, in Paris. (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)

It was a classic little-sister copycat move: Noemie Fox nabbed a gold medal in Paris on Monday, after her big sister Jessica took home two of her own last week.

(JTA) — It was a classic little-sister copycat move: Noemie Fox nabbed a gold medal in Paris on Monday, after her big sister Jessica took home two of her own last week.

Noemie Fox’s gold medal came in a new event, kayak cross, that features a full-contact race with a 15-foot drop and a required 360-degree Eskimo roll. In fact, Noemie defeated Jessica — Australia’s all-time great paddler — in the event’s preliminary heats on Sunday.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Now, Noemie, 27, and Jessica, 30, have entered the thin ranks of Jewish sibling duos to win Olympic medals.

In 1960 and 1964, sisters Tamara and Irina Press each won gold medals for the Soviet Union: Tamara won for shot put both years and for the discus throw in 1964, while Irina won for 80-meter hurdles in 1960 and the pentathlon in 1964.

According to data compiled by the Jewish Virtual Library, there are also a handful of Jewish siblings to win silver and bronze medals in the same Olympics.

In 1920 and 1924, brothers Gérard and Maurice Blitz won silver with the Belgian water polo team. In 1964, Ronald and Vivian Joseph won bronze together in pair figure skating. And German cousins Alfred and Gustav Flatow — who both died in the Theresienstadt concentration camp during the Holocaust — each won gold medals in gymnastics in 1896.

More recently, Josh and Nathan Katz both represented Australia in the 2016 Rio Olympics, becoming their country’s first brother duo to compete in judo at the same Olympics, though neither medaled. Both Katz parents were also athletes in the Japanese martial art, and their mother Kerrye competed in the 1988 Olympics. Josh is in Paris for his second Olympics.

For Israel, Hungarian-Israeli siblings Barnabás and Noa Szőllős skied at the 2022 Winter Olympics, while in Paris, siblings Ron and Leah Polansky both swam for their country.

Noemie Fox’s gold brings her family’s medal count to eight. In addition to Jessica Fox’s six medals, their mother, Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, who is Jewish and has coached Jessica, was a bronze medalist for France at the 1996 Olympics. (The three Fox women took a “girls trip” to Israel during Rosh Hashanah in 2019.) Their father, Richard Fox, who is not Jewish, finished in fourth place in the kayak slalom event in 1992.

The elder Fox jumped into the water to celebrate Noemie’s victory.

“I’m just full of emotion,” Jessica Fox said after her sister’s win, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. “It’s just incredible what Noemie did today to make it through each round with such composure.”

Noemie Fox said joining her sister as a gold medalist had left her speechless.

“You don’t really dare to dream this big, but I did this time,” Fox said, according to the Herald. “It was pure joy — there’s no way to describe that feeling. It’s crazy that it’s mine.”

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount