Richard Fox

Richard Munro Fox (born 5 June 1960 in Winsford, Somerset) is a British slalom canoeist who competed for Great Britain from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s. He won eleven medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships with ten golds (K1: 1981, 1983, 1985, 1989, 1993; K1 team: 1979, 1981, 1983, 1987, 1993) and a bronze (K1: 1979). Fox also won the overall World Cup title three times (1988, 1989, 1991) and the Euro Cup (discontinued competition) four times. Fox also finished fourth in the K1 event at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Early life and canoeing beginnings Fox was born in Somerset, England, but moved to Harpenden, Hertfordshire, in his younger years. His father, Roger Fox, an official with the British Canoe Union, was one of the founder members in 1970, with Ron Vessey and Richard Scaife, of the St Albans and District Canoe Club. Fox attended St Albans Boys' Grammar School (later to become Verulam School) from 1971 and started attending his father's canoe rolling sessions at the Cottonmill Swimming Baths from the age of 11. His initial interest was purely recreational and Fox would go on canoeing trips with other club paddlers in boats he and his father had built together. In 1975 Fox began slalom training with the club at Dobbs Weir in Hoddesden and at Sharnbrook in Bedfordshire. Fox was reluctant but eventually by 1976 got involved in racing and made the British Junior Canoe Slalom team as a reserve.