Georgina Claire Seccombe (née Harland; born 14 April 1978) is a former

modern pentathlete The modern pentathlon is an Olympic sport consisting of fencing (one-touch épée), freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross country running. The event is inspired by the traditional pentathlon held during the anci ...

from Great Britain. Having been a reserve for the British team for the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

, she was chosen for the team proper for the 2004 Games in

Athens, Greece Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, winning the bronze medal in the women's individual event. She retired from professional sport at the end of 2008 due to a career ending injury ahead of the 2008 Games.

Early life

Georgina Harland was involved in sport from an early age, having taken up riding with

The Pony Club The Pony Club is a voluntary organisation founded in England in 1929. It has now expanded internationally and Pony Club branches can be found worldwide. It is one of 16 organisations that form the British Equestrian Federation. The Pony Club ...

, swimming with the City of Canterbury Swimming Club and cross-country running for Great Britain. She was educated at

Wellesley House School Wellesley House School is an independent day and boarding preparatory school in the coastal town of Broadstairs in the English county of Kent. Founded in 1866, it educates boys and girls aged 3 to 13. History The history of Wellesley House Sch ...

and

Benenden School Benenden School is an independent boarding school for girls in Kent, England, in Hemsted Park at Benenden, between Cranbrook and Tenterden. Benenden has a boarding population of over 550 girls aged 11 to 18, as well as a limited number of da ...

both of which are in Kent. Whilst at

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

she began competing in

modern pentathlon The modern pentathlon is an Olympic sport consisting of fencing (one-touch épée), freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross country running. The event is inspired by the traditional pentathlon held during the anci ...

Career

Harland was chosen as a non-travelling reserve for the

, with

Steph Cook Stephanie Jayne "Steph" Cook, MBE (born 7 February 1972) is a British retired modern pentathlete. She was the Olympic champion at this event in 2000. Cook was born in Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland. She was educated at Bedford High School; T ...

and

Kate Allenby Katherine Fiona “Kate” Allenby MBE (born 16 March 1974) is a British modern pentathlete who competed in two Summer Olympics, taking the bronze medal at the 2000 Games and placing in 8th place in 2004. She has won medals at four World Champ ...

taking the two British spots in the women's modern pentathlon. She described herself as having been "devastated" at the decision, but supported her friends and training partners through the Games. She won the 2003 European Champions, which qualified her for the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

as she had finished ahead of fellow Brit

Sian Lewis Sian Lewis (born 8 October 1976) is a British people, British former Modern pentathlon, pentathlete who competed in the World Modern Pentathlon Championships between 1996 and 2003, winning three gold and two silver medals. Career Lewis gradua ...

. She went into the Games as world number one, hoping to emulate the gold medal victory of Steph Cook in the previous Olympics. She said that the shooting event was her worst out of the five events. Two weeks prior to the Games she suffered a

stress fracture A stress fracture is a fatigue-induced bone fracture caused by repeated stress over time. Instead of resulting from a single severe impact, stress fractures are the result of accumulated injury from repeated submaximal loading, such as running or ...

in her right leg, requiring an orthopaedic cast. In the first round of Olympic competition, the shooting, she scored 156 points out of 200 which left her sitting in 30th place out of 32 competitors. The fencing round saw her move up to 26th after winning 16 of the 31 one on one matches against the other pentathletes. She finished second in the swimming with a time of 2:14:60, moving her further up to 19th overall. After finishing the showjumping as the fourth event, she moved up to fourteenth overall. She mounted a comeback in the final event, the cross-country, and completed the race over thirty seconds faster than anyone else, moving her up to third place and winning the bronze medal. She had started 51 seconds behind the third placed athlete, Claudia Corsini, and needed to overtake twelve athletes during the race. During the build up to the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

, Harland won the third World Cup event of 2007, which was Harland's first event of the year. However, she suffered an injury prior to the Games and failed to qualify. She retired at the close of the 2008 season. During her professional career, she maintained a top five ranking worldwide between 2001 and 2008.

Sports administration

Harland moved into sports administration after retirement. She was named on the Mission 2012 panel by

UK Sport UK Sport is the government agency responsible for investing in Olympic and Paralympic sport in the United Kingdom. It is an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. It was created ...

in 2011. As of 2013, she is working for the

British Olympic Association The British Olympic Association (BOA) is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It is responsible for organising and overseeing the participation of athletes from the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team, at both ...

. On 20 May 2020, she was announced as Team GB's Chef de Mission for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. Harland was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2022 Birthday Honours The 2022 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as par ...

for services to Olympic sport.

Personal life

Harland married Charlie Seccombe, a former hockey coach at

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

and Director of GB&I - Dyson Professional, on 27 August 2011 in Canterbury, Kent.

References

;General * ;Specific

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harland, Georgina 1978 births Living people British female modern pentathletes Olympic modern pentathletes of Great Britain Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Modern pentathletes at the 2004 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Canterbury Olympic medalists in modern pentathlon Alumni of Loughborough University Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics World Modern Pentathlon Championships medalists Team Bath pentathletes Members of the Order of the British Empire