Noemie, an Australian woman, followed her sister in winning gold in the women's cross-kayak event at the Olympics on Monday. Finn Butcher from New Zealand won the men's race.

Jessica Fox, Fox's older sister, won the gold medals for canoe slalom and kayak slalom in the whitewater race. Her younger brother made the family event a success when he came out victorious in the thrilling final.

Angele Hug, representing France, won silver and Kimberley woods of Britain took the bronze. This was the first time that the sport had been awarded an Olympic medal.

Enjoy it! "I'm still in shock. I just wanted to get through the semifinals, and that was what I set out to do. Now, just enjoy yourself." This is insane and so much fun. "Today was perfect, and I loved every minute," Fox said to reporters.

After getting stuck in traffic, the top Briton Joe Clarke was forced to settle for silver. Kiwi Butcher moved ahead and stayed there until the end.

"It's crazy. It's still not real. As soon as I turned and got in front of the crowd, I thought, "No way". They are all so talented. I am proud to have won. "The first one is pretty sick," said an exultant Butcher.

Noah Hegge of Germany came in third and won the bronze medal. This was the first cross race, which saw the competitors drop together into the water and paddling as quickly as possible through gates upstream and downstream.

Despite Hug's gold, the French had a bad day. Camille Prigent was eliminated in the quarterfinals, and teenager Titouan Castryck, despite winning his race, was shockingly knocked off.

The 19-year old kayak slalom medalist cruised to victory in the semifinals of each race, but was pushed down to third place after the judges determined he had failed to correctly pass the third gate on the 10-gate course. Reporting by Philip O'Connor, Editing by Alison Williams & Ed Osmond

(source: Reuters)