Joshua Riker-Fox

Biography

Joshua Riker-Fox’s Olympic dreams were not inspired by just one thing. There were the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary when he was five. He saw the Olympic rings in his Cheerios “more than once”. He had the chance to meet 1992 Olympians and role models Laurie Shong and Ian Soellner. Riker-Fox began competing internationally at the World Youth Championships in 2001. He made his Pan Am Games debut two years later before going on to win bronze at Rio 2007, which earned him a spot at Beijing 2008 where his 24^th place finish is the best-ever Olympic result by a Canadian male modern pentathlete. He recorded another best-ever in April 2010 when he finished eighth at the UIPM World Cup in Medway, Great Britain. In 2007 he had been the first Canadian man to qualify for the UIPM World Cup Final. In 2009 he was the first Canadian man to reach the UIPM World Championship final in more than 20 years.

PERSONAL

Family: Father Don Fox, mother Lynne Riker… Younger brother Joel Riker-Fox… Partner Élise Marcotte is a two-time Olympic synchro swimmer and Assistant Chef de Mission for TORONTO 2015… Getting into the Sport: Started modern pentathlon at age 10… Began with a love of horses… Both parents were runners so that was part of his lifestyle… Enjoys the very specific and demanding challenges of each of the five events which capture basic, essential skills… Outside Interests: Earned MBA in Sports Marketing from University of Calgary in 2013… Bachelor of Commerce and Kinesiology… RBC Olympian… Part owner of AV company Forte Sound & Stage… Advocate for Wild Horses of Alberta (WHOAS), organization dedicated to preserving the wild horses of the Alberta Foothills… Odds and Ends: Favourite quote: “Dream it, Train it, Live it” – Tom Ponting…  Good luck charm is a very small piece of a deer’s hoof that a Native elder gave him… Nicknames: Josher, Riker, Peter Pan… Self-described nerdy introvert…