JOE Choong’s Olympic Games gold medal in the modern pentathlon was celebrated in Saddleworth.
Watching in Lydgate was Joe’s girlfriend Olivia Green, herself one of the country’s top women modern pentathletes.
Olivia, who watched Joe’s victory with her parents, would have ordinarily been in Tokyo but for the ban on spectators from attending the Games.
“I was tearing up and Joe was emotional afterwards which was a surprise as he is not a crier, but it was all very overwhelming,” she said.
Olivia travelled to London on Monday, August 9 to welcome home Joe and her team-mate
Kate French who was the women’s winner.
She added being at Heathrow to see Joe and many of the British team medal winners, including Jason and Laura Kenny, alight from their flight from Tokyo was “amazing”.
Olivia explained: “It definitely inspired me 100 per cent.
“Sometimes you need something extra to motivate you and the Olympics are the biggest event and Joe’s gold was so close to home for me.
“I am very motivated to crack on and try to qualify for the next Olympics.”
Apart from being boyfriend and girlfriend, Joe and Olivia team up together in modern pentathlon mixed relay events.
Earlier this year Olivia, who was making her debut for Great Britain seniors, and Joe won gold at UIPM 2021 Pentathlon World Cup Budapest.
Whereas there are relays in other sports, that is not the case in the Olympics for modern pentathlon.
Olivia explained: “Unfortunately there is only one chance to win a medal for men and women in the Olympics.
“I am hoping Joe and Kate’s successes will give the sport more publicity and strengthen the case the relays to be introduced.
“The modern pentathlon’s profile has been increased after the successes in Tokyo and the public have seen how challenging an event it is to do five sports.
“It requires hard work and dedication, and the horse riding is especially difficult as you are given a random horse and have between 15 and 20 minutes to get to know it before jumping fences.
“It is not like the other equestrian events when horses are ridden day in, day out for many years by the same person and you build up a connection. But as we saw in Tokyo, animals have minds of their own.”
Olivia added that the successes of Joe and Kate has underlined the training programme at the University of Bath where the modern pentathletes are based in working well.
In Tokyo, Joe led the field from the fencing ranking round and then kept rivals at bay through the swim, bonus fencing round and ride, meaning he started the laser run with a 12-second advantage.
Out of the shooting range and into the final 800m, he was stride for stride with Egypt’s Ahmed Elgendy but finally sprung away in the last 200m, crossing the line five seconds ahead.
Great Britain had won two golds, two silvers and two bronzes in this sport since Sydney 2000 – all of which were delivered by the women’s team.
And that put the pressure on world number one Choong to become the first man to win a modern pentathlon Olympic medal since Jim Fox, Danny Nightingale and Adrian Parker won team gold in 1976.
No nation in Olympic history had ever won medals in both the men’s and women’s competition in the same Games.
Now French and Choong have rewritten history with double gold.
It was especially emotional for Joe, 26, who had been on course for a medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He had been in the silver medal position going into the final discipline only to falter badly to finish 10th.
Joe, who is from Orpington, Kent, said: “I’m in shock. I was thinking down the last straight that he [Elgendy] wasn’t going to catch me and I was there swearing in my head.
“There were a couple of heavy jumps on the ride but, compared to a lot of the boys out there, I could be pleased with that.
“The swim was good, fencing was good. The run was quite tactical, I saved myself for the last two laps as people were closing.
“Shooting was a bit sketchy again, I thought I was going to lose it after taking eight shots on the first shoot. But I’ve nailed it.
“I’ve been thinking of the moment ever since I can remember. I was five when watching Sydney, then Kelly Holmes in Athens. I’ve always said I’ve wanted to be the best in the world at something. This is a dream come true.
“Kate and I always seem to match each other’s results, so I was feeling the pressure to keep up with her.”
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