Joe Choong exclusive: Olympic modern pentathlon gold medallist keeping it in the family for Paris 2024
As Britain’s Choong, who competes this week at the European Games, takes aim at a title defence at Paris 2024, he’s dreaming of more than just personal honours at the next Olympics in France
Modern Pentathlon
When Great Britain’s Joe Choong won modern pentathlon gold at Tokyo 2020, the restrictions surrounding the Games meant his family weren’t there to share the moment with him.
So what better way to celebrate the next Olympics than to have them standing alongside him at Paris 2024?
However, Choong isn’t just hoping his loved ones will be cheering from the sidelines. For brother Henry and girlfriend Olivia Green, there is a real chance they can compete alongside him when the Games begin in France in just 14 months' time.
Joe Choong: How brother Henry helped pave the way for an Olympic champion
While Choong is now one of the biggest names in modern pentathlon, without the involvement of his brother Henry he may never have even got started with the sport.
“We both joined secondary school at the same time and we were both swimmers and did a little bit of running,” the 28-year-old said in an exclusive interview with Olympics.com at the European Games in Krakow.
“He got approached by the shooting coach, which was the first sport you can pick up after running and swimming, and did some biathlon and triathlon as a young athlete. And I thought, that looks really fun, I’m going to make friends with this coach that’s approached Henry so I can have a go.
“I guess I sort of copied him and absolutely loved it and kept going until I’m here now.”
Both brothers began to excel in the sport, however, while Henry chose to pursue a degree in mathematics at Cambridge University with limited access to training facilities, Joe continued to follow his sporting dreams all the way to the top step of the podium at Tokyo 2020.
Now, with both siblings chasing the same Olympic dreams, Joe has swapped the rivalry the two shared for a more supportive role, offering his experience to help mentor his brother on the road to Paris 2024.
“Whereas we used to be really competitive, I’ve obviously got a bit more experience, and it’s a bit more me trying to mentor him and help him get the thought process of what it takes to be fantastic at pentathlon,” he explained.
“So while there is obviously rivalry between us, at the moment it’s more of I want the best for him and obviously he wants me to do really well at the same time.”
The more the merrier, as girlfriend Olivia Green aims for Paris
While Choong’s relationship with his brother may have evolved in recent years, the healthy competition with his girlfriend Green, also a pentathlete, is alive and kicking.
Both of them are currently competing at the European Games 2023 and each has the chance to secure a quota for Paris 2024, with the top eight athletes of each gender booking a spot at the next Olympic Games.
“Between me and Liv it’s always a little bit of a competition,” Choong said jokingly of Green, who won team gold for Great Britain at the 2022 world championships in Egypt. “She’s always trying to outdo me a little bit,”
Nowadays, the couple have plenty of opportunities to test their skills against each other having set up their own shooting range in their back garden to help mitigate the disruption to training during the nationwide lockdown in the lead-up to Tokyo 2020.
And with Paris 2024 on the horizon, both Choong and Green still use the homemade range to hone their shooting chops whenever they have the opportunity.
“When we want to have a focus on shooting, we still put up that little garden range and have a little bit of a practice at the weekend,” Choong told us.
Why change a winning formula? Especially when that formula led to Olympic gold.
Joe Choong and the chance to do a famous treble
While the main focus for Choong is now Paris 2024, there’s more than the not-so-small matter of Olympic qualification on the line when he competes for European glory in Poland.
After his victory at the 2022 World Championships, the reigning Olympic champ now has a chance to sweep the most important international titles available to him in modern pentathlon.
“It’s the last major achievement that I’ve not won before, so I’d be immensely proud,” he said of the European Games title that could be his on Saturday 1 July.
And while he has also shown he is in the sort of form that could see him win a second Olympic title in Paris next year, the prospect of doing that alongside his loved ones may just mean more than any medal he has worn in his illustrious sporting career.