Joseph Choong (born 23 May 1995) is a British

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 ...

. He won the gold medal in the event at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

and the

World title A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in 2022.

Early life

Choong was born in

Orpington Orpington is a town and area in south east London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is 13.4 miles (21.6 km) south east of Charing Cross. On the south-eastern edge of the Greater London Built-up Area, it is south of St Ma ...

, South East London to a

Malaysian Chinese Malaysian Chinese (; Malay: ''Orang Cina Malaysia''), alternatively Chinese Malaysians, are Malaysian citizens of Han Chinese descent. They form the second largest ethnic group after the Malay majority constituting 22.4% of the Malaysian po ...

father Michael Choong and a British mother Beverley, both doctors. He was privately educated at the independent

New Beacon , motto_translation = Give light out of darkness , established = , closed = , type = Preparatory School , religious_affiliation = , president = , head_label = Headmas ...

and

Whitgift School ("He who perseveres, conquers") , established = , closed = , type = Independent school , religious_affiliation = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head Master , head = Christopher Ramsey , c ...

. He studied at the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

, where he graduated with a degree in mathematics. He also trains at the Pentathlon GB High Performance Centre located at the university. His younger brother

Henry Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) *Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

is also a modern pentathlete and competed for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

at the

2014 Summer Youth Olympics The 2014 Summer Youth Olympics (), officially known as the II Summer Youth Olympic Games , and commonly known as Nanjing 2014 ( zh, c=南京2014, p=Nánjīng Èr Líng yī sì), were the second Summer Youth Olympic Games, an international sports ...

Modern pentathlon

2010-2015

In 2010, Choong became the first British athlete to win the European under-16 modern pentathlon title. He was also part of the British team that won a bronze medal in the relay event. Choong won the GB Open title and the British Junior Championships in 2013. In 2014 he successfully defended both titles with a score of 1,484 points to finish ahead of

Team Bath TeamBath is the University of Bath's sporting organisation. In addition to entering teams in BUCS intervarsity competitions, TeamBath has also entered teams in national leagues and competitions. Team Bath F.C. reached the first round proper of t ...

teammates

Joe Evans Joseph Patton "Doc" Evans (May 15, 1895 – August 9, 1951) was an American professional baseball outfielder and third baseman, who played for the Cleveland Indians, Washington Senators (1901–60), Washington Senators, St. Louis Browns of Major ...

and

Tom Toolis Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in '' Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

, who scored 1,468 points and 1,446 points respectively. Choong, Evans and Toolis combined to win the team gold medal. At the

2014 World Modern Pentathlon Championships The 2014 World Modern Pentathlon Championships was held in Warsaw, Poland from September 1 to September 7, 2014. The event included pistol shooting, fencing, 200m swimming, show jumping and a 3 km run. Medal summary Men's events Women's even ...

held in Warsaw, Poland he finished 16th. He qualified for the

modern pentathlon at the 2016 Summer Olympics The modern pentathlon at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro took place from 19 to 20 August 2016 at Deodoro Aquatics Centre, Deodoro Stadium, and Youth Arena. Thirty-six athletes competed each in the men's and women's events. Initia ...

by finishing seventh at the 2015 European Championships held in Bath. Choong was placed fourth after the first three events but dropped out of the top eight during the first laps of the combined run and shooting event before moving back up during the final lap.

2016

In March 2016 at the

Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne The ''Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne'' ( en, International Modern Pentathlon Union), commonly known by the acronym UIPM, has been the international governing body of modern pentathlon since its foundation in London in 1948. Its head ...

(UIPM) world cup event in Rio, which served as a test event for the Olympics, Choong was the highest placed British athlete, finishing thirteenth. In April 2016 Choong achieved a career best finish in a world cup event as he finished fourth in Rome, five seconds behind the Czech Republic's Jan Kuf who took the bronze medal. Choong made his debut at the Olympics in Rio in 2016. He went into the final event, the laser run, in second place, but a poor event resulted in a 10th-place finish.

2018–2019

At the

2018 European Modern Pentathlon Championships The 2018 European Modern Pentathlon Championships was held in Székesfehérvár, Hungary from 17 to 23 July 2018. Medal summary Men's events Women's events Mixed events Medal table References {{European championships in 2018 European M ...

, Choong won his first major individual medal after finishing third. At the 2018 World Modern Pentathlon Championships held in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

, he won a team silver together with and Jamie Cooke and Myles Pillage. In 2019, Choong won a silver in the individual event at the Modern Pentathlon World Cup held in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

, Bulgaria. He also won a team gold at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

with Cooke and Tom Toolis. The following month at the

2019 World Modern Pentathlon Championships The 2019 World Modern Pentathlon Championships were held in Budapest, Hungary from 2 to 9 September 2019. The 59th edition of the championships, and the 23rd in which the men's and women's events have been combined, the individual competitions al ...

held in Hungary, Choong again won silver in the individual event.

2021

In April 2021, Choong won an individual gold at the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

held in Sofia. In August 2021 at the postponed

2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

, Choong took gold in the

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 ...

event, which is the first ever gold for a British man in modern pentathlon. It followed a win by

Kate French Kate Lauren French is an American actress and model. She is perhaps best known for her role as Niki Stevens on ''The L Word''. Early life Kate Lauren French was born in Flemington, New Jersey. Career Following in her parents' footsteps, Frenc ...

in the women's competition at the same Olympics to complete a historic double at the Olympics for Britain, the first time a nation has won both. Choong 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 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations ...

for services to modern pentathlon.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Choong, Joe 1995 births Living people Alumni of the University of Bath People educated at Whitgift School People from Orpington Sportspeople from the London Borough of Bromley English people of Malaysian descent British sportspeople of Chinese descent Modern pentathletes at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic modern pentathletes for Great Britain British male modern pentathletes World Modern Pentathlon Championships medalists Team Bath pentathletes Modern pentathletes at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in modern pentathlon Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain English Olympic medallists Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics English people of Chinese descent Members of the Order of the British Empire 21st-century British people Modern pentathletes at the 2023 European Games European Games medalists in modern pentathlon European Games gold medalists for Great Britain European Games silver medalists for Great Britain