Australia's Jessica Fox on Thursday made Olympic history at the Tokyo Games as the first gold medalist in women's canoe slalom. But the olympian, before going on to win a bronze medal on Tuesday, July 27 fixed her kayak with an Olympics-issued condom
Fox and Team Australia revealed her on-the-fly way kayak fix with an official Olympics rubber on social media on Tuesday.
The 27-year-old in a video showing her repair on Instagram captioned "Bet you never knew condoms could be used for kayak repairs."
Fox used the condom to hold in place a carbon mixture applied to the tip of the vessel. "Very stretchy, much strong," reads the post, adding "it gives the carbon a smooth finish!"
The kayak champion went on to win the bronze medal in the kayak slalom final on Tuesday, after qualifying with the fastest time. Fox hit a gate on her final run, resulting in a time penalty.
However, Fox made history at Tokyo on Thursday when she clinched gold medal and went on to become first gold medalist in women's canoe slalom.
Fox made the last run of the final and crushed it, beating rival and silver-medalist Mallory Franklin of Britain with a winning run of 105.04 seconds through the rapids of of the Kasai Canoe Slalom Center.
It was a clean run without the mistakes and penalty seconds that prevented her from winning gold in the kayak slalom two days earlier, when she won bronze.
The women's canoe slalom is one of 18 new events introduced to the Olympics this year in a push for gender equity. It replaced the men's double canoe slalom.
