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Tokyo Olympic Games canoe slalom gold medallist, Jessica Fox OAM, and double world champion para-athlete Lauren Parker reconfirmed their standing as among NSW’s greatest ever athletes in capturing the blue ribbon Athlete of the Year and Athlete of the Year with a Disability awards at the rebel NSW Champions of Sport awards.

Presented during a ceremony at the Sydney International Convention Centre on Monday, the night was a special one for the Fox family with her mother and coach, Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, voted Coach of The Year for the first time.

It was the fifth time Fox 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.

Fox 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, Fox is the world’s most decorated canoe slalom athlete of all time.

Guiding these successes was 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.

Lauren Parker joins wheelchair racer Kurt Fearnley as a four-time winner of Athlete of the Year with a Disability - just one title behind five-time Award winner, wheelchair tennis great, David Hall.

Parker showed her dominance in both the longer and short forms of para-triathlon completing an undefeated international season culminating in World Championship success in both World Triathlon and Ironman triathlon events.

Lauren then continued to build on her remarkable career becoming a world champion in a second sport, para-cycling, when winning hand-cycling gold in the H3 individual time trial at the UCI World Championships in August.

Swimmer Tony Goodwin collected his second Masters Athlete of the Year Award, having previously captured the title in 2017, after a spectacular year which saw him claim seven world records, nine Australian records and eight state records.

The Penrith Panthers Rugby League team also snared back-to-back Team of the Year titles after defeating the Brisbane Broncos 26-24 in this year’s NRL Grand-final.

Sydney Swans AFL midfielder Errol Gulden capped off a stellar 2023 season when named Young Athlete of the Year after being recognised as an All-Australian player for the first time and finishing fourth in the Brownlow Medal, polling 27 votes including six Best on Ground performances.

Vision impaired tennis player Arato Katsuda-Green, aged 12, was named Young Athlete of the Year with a Disability after climbing to be the number one ranked B4 category Men’s Blind and Low Vision singles player in Australia and capturing silver (doubles) and bronze (singles) medals in the adults division at the International Blind Sports Federation World Games in Birmingham last August.

Netball umpire, Jemma Cook, was named Official of the Year after being appointed to the Netball World Cup and the 2023 Super Netball Grand-Final, while Northern NSW Football’s General Manager NSW Football Legacy, Annelise Rosnell, was voted Administrator of the Year.

The FIBA Women’s Asia Cup earned Basketball NSW the Event of the Year title and NSW Goalball was named Organisation of the Year.

The all-conquering World Championship winning BC3 Boccia pairs team of Boccia Daniel Michel/Ashlee Maddern (ramp operator) and Jamieson Leeson/Amanda Leeson (Ramp operator) earned Team of the Year with a Disability.

The Ceremony also saw seven-time world surfing champion, Layne Beachley, AO, become the 24th NSW athlete and the first surfer to be elevated to NSW Legend Status.

Beachley is the first woman to win seven World Championships and she won an eighth world title becoming the first female winner of the WSL World Masters Championship.

The Awards ceremony also saw John Forbes (sailing), Heather Garriock (football), Mathew Helm (diving), Brett Lee (cricket) and David Palmer, OAM (squash) inducted into the NSW Hall of Champions.

The NSW Hall of Champions is located at Quaycentre at Sydney Olympic Park.

The full list of Award winners are:

Athlete of the Year
Jessica Fox OAM - paddle

Athlete of the Year with a Disability
Lauren Parker - para-triathlon

Young Athlete of the Year
Errol Gulden - Australian football

Young Athlete of the Year with a Disability
Arato Katsuda-Green - tennis 

Masters Athlete of the Year
Tony Goodwin - swimming

Team of the Year
Penrith Panthers - rugby league    

Team of the Year with a Disability
Daniel Michel/Ashlee Maddern (ramp operator) and Jamieson Leeson/Amanda Leeson (ramp operator) - boccia

Administrator of the Year
Annelise Rosnell - football

Coach of the Year
Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi - paddle

Event of the Year
FIBA Women’s Asia Cup - basketball
    
Official of the Year
Jemma Cook - netball

Organisation of the Year
NSW Goalball - goalball

The Waratah
Lauren Jackson - basketball

Images: Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi and Jessica Fox (top), Lauren Parker (middle) and Lauren Jackson with her Waratah award (below).

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