Choong still eyes medal
Focus remains on postponed Olympics
The Coronavirus may have brought the sporting world to a standstill, but the consequences of that have been different for different sports.
Grassroots football has had its season and results expunged from history, rugby and hockey seasons were curtailed early, while the cricket and outdoor bowls season has been delayed any may not even see any action this year.
But for some sports stars, the Coronavirus has caused a complete mind shift. After working for the best part of four years, Olympic athletes were gearing themselves up for one last stint to find some form that could potentially lead to a medal at Tokyo in the summer. However, with the Olympics now postponed until next year, it’s left some athletes at a bit of a crossroads physically and mentally.
In the modern pentathlon, Joe Choong was arguably in his peak form before the lockdown. Choong was named World Pentathlon Male of the Year in 2019 and ranked number one in the world. At the season opener in Budapest in January, Choong earned bronze to make it five consecutive podium finishes and his sights were set on becoming the first male to win an Olympic medal for Great Britain.
With all of that now put on hold, Choong, like many other athletes and sports people, are having to find different ways to train and remain in peak physical condition.
Speaking to the Bath Chronicle, Choong explained how the lockdown has impacted him.
He said: “Obviously there’s nothing you can do about it, the coaches sat us down on the week of the lockdown and explained it to us. It can be hard to get your head around but my focus is still on Tokyo.
“Nothing’s changed in that respect, I still want to be the first British athlete to win a medal at the Olympics.
“I live with fellow athlete Sam Curry and we’ve been doing target practice in our communal garden. In a way it’s been quite nice just focusing on running. Usually you’re thinking about recovery in between the sports but I can only train on running. I’ve been training on the Twin Tunnels cycle path.”
Choong usually trains at the University of Bath, having studied for a degree in mathematics, and couldn’t be happier with the facilities.
He said: “Bath have the best training facilities for modern pentathlon in the world. They let us have access to their fencing hall.”
Whilst the main focus was on the Olympics, athletes use the end of the four year block as a chance to wind down and take break before the next cycle begins. With the postponement of the Olympics, the wind down has now been pushed back a year and plans have to be rethought out, something which can be quite challenging mentally.
Choong said: “I’ve got family in Australia so was going to plan and see them. Have a trip round Bali and Australia.
Mentally I was looking forward to the break. I’m basically back in winter testing before we resume again in October and then it will be the same plan looking ahead to Tokyo as it was at the start of this year.
“I’d have rather had had the Olympics, but it’s better to do it next year because then if I do win, it’ll mean that I’ve beaten the best.”
It hasn’t been all training for Choong though during the lockdown, like many others, he’s using the new found time to pick up some new hobbies and find some new interests.
He said: “I’ve bought a Rosetta Stone to learn Spanish. I try to do about an hour a day, obviously my main focus is my training. But we used to learn it at school and thought I would try and pick it up again from scratch.”
Even though Tokyo has now been pushed back a year, Choong and his fellow modern pentathletes got a taste of what was to come at the Olympic test event last year which coincided with the World Cup final. It proved to be a successful test for Choong as he out-sprinted Germany’s Marvin Dogue to achieve the Olympic standard and be eligible to be selected to represent Great Britain, as has Jamie Cooke and Kate French.
It’s known that Choong is a big fan of sushi and really enjoyed his time over in Japan.
He said: “Toyko was fantastic, by far the nicest place I’ve been to. Half the group loved sushi and the other half didn’t so we were out eating sushi and they were eating more Western food.”
With Choong only aged 24, he has looked further ahead past Tokyo and as well as being adamant he’s has at least one more Olympic cycle in him, there’s one dream he would like to fulfil.
He said: “My brother [Henry] has restarted the pentathlon after leaving university, it would be a dream to go the next Olympics together.”