(c) Andy Green/Red Bull Content Pool
“Winning that Silver medal…came out of nowhere for me. I’m so proud of myself to have raced like that. But afterwards, I really felt that I had to prove myself because I felt that people might think it was a fluke…”
3 months after finishing High School at the age of 18, Jess Fox qualified for the 2012 London Olympics.
She left those Games with a Silver medal and, in hindsight, admits she felt the need to prove herself and to show that her result in London wasn’t a fluke.
(c) Andy Green/Red Bull Content Pool
Of course, it wasn’t a fluke - in fact, it was just the start of an incredible career!
A 2 x Olympic medalist (Jess won Bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics), Jess has also now won 7 World Titles (and counting!) making her the most successful canoe slalom paddler - male or female - in the history of the sport.
And she’s on Sparta Chicks Radio this week!
Born in Marseilles, France she now lives in my home town of Penrith and it’s safe to say the sport runs through her veins.
Both of her parents competed at the Olympics in the same sport; her father for Great Britain and her mother for France.
Her Dad is a 5x time World Champion and her Mum, a bronze medalist at the 1996 Olympic Games.
(c) Andy Green/Red Bull Content Pool
In this fun conversation, we discuss:
* how Jess got into the sport (given she initially thought it was “uncool”)
* the important lessons that swim (squad) training taught her,
* how she qualified for the London Olympics only 3 months after finishing her HSC (High School)
* the power of writing down your goals and seeing them on a daily basis,
* how she was able to refocus and stop any negative self-talk creep in after a ‘disastrous’ run (her words) in the semi-final at the London Olympics,
* how she deals with her own internal expectations as opposed to the external expectations placed on her by the media and the public,
* why you should welcome conditions that aren’t ideal in training,
* how she has navigated the inevitable comparisons with her parents,
* her experience with the Imposter Complex, especially after the London Olympics, and
* why she said ‘yes’ to being on Hell’s Kitchen (a celebrity reality TV cooking show) with Marco Pierre White.
Click here to listen on iTunes.
Notes and resources:
To find out more about Jess or to say hello, you can find her on Instagram, Facebook or via her website.
