Joe Choong won gold in the men’s modern pentathlon to seal an Olympic double for Great Britain after Kate French triumphed with her victory in the women’s event.
The 26-year-old Brit kept a cool head in the final run to take Tokyo’s gold medal.
He sprinted to the finish line, propelled by his years of training and determination, Ahmed Elgendy of Egypt burst through from 13th place to take silver.
“I’ve always said I wanted to be the best in the world. This is literally a dream come true,” Choong exclaimed, his voice shaking with excitement.
“I pulled myself together and this time I’ve nailed it”.
The Brit started off the day with a bang, finishing joint top of his fencing round and third in the 200m freestyle swimming event.
The 2019 world champion then won the bonus fencing round and going into the fourth event, equestrian, Choong was in a strong position with 19 points clear of his closest competitor, South Korea’s Jung Jin-hwa.
He drew Clntino, Kate French’s faithful horse that she rode to Olympic Gold fame on Friday.
Although he had 14 faults, it was enough to secure a 12-second lead over Jung going into the concluding laser run event, a 3.2 km run punctuated by four shooting stages.
Jung and compatriot Jun Woong-Tae were able to close the gap from 12 seconds down to 8 after the first lap, as Choong struggled on his first shoot.
Though it was Elgendy who proved the real threat to gold!
With the final 800-metres lap to go, Choong was briefly overtaken by the Egyptian runner.
However, Choong still had plenty left in the tank!
He pulled clear in the final 200 metres, and crossed the line in first.
After a 10th-place finish at Rio 2016, Chang became the first British man to win the individual modern pentathlete gold medal at the Olympic Games.
