Olympic debutant Joe Choong will fulfil his school boy dreams as he competes in the Rio 2016 modern pentathlon on tomorrow.
Choong was the first British male to seal his spot on Team GB after he finished seventh-place in the 2015 European Championships in Bath.
The 21-year-old began his sporting career when he was a student at Whitgift School in south Croydon in 2009.
He said: “The Olympics has been a dream since I started the sport in year nine at school.
“When you start a sport and start doing well, you always keep looking at the next level and thinking bigger, and it doesn’t get any bigger than the Olympics.”
It took less than a year after Choong started the event before he was representing GB and took the European U16 modern pentathlon title.
The pentathlete was also part of the British team that year that won a bronze medal in the relay event.
Now a maths student at Bath University since 2013, Choong is supported by an Ivor Powell Sports Scholarship.
The athlete joins a long line of the University’s students to compete at an Olympic Games including silver medallists Michael Jamieson and Samantha Murray.
So far 2016 has been a rollercoaster of a year for Choong after he achieved a career-best finishing fourth in Rome World Cup in April.
Yet after being struck down with illness the week before the Pentathlon World Championships in Moscow last month he failed to make the individual final.
The modern pentathlon is flagship British sport comprising of five traditional sports and a core part to the Olympic Games since 1912.
Fencing, swimming and show jumping will determine the athletes’ handicap before they compete in the ultimate combine event of running and pistol shooting.
Image courtesy of teambathtv via YouTube with thanks
