Nicholas Lloyd Woodbridge (born 1 July 1986) 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 ...

. The modern pentathlon includes the disciplines of

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, s ...

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

, and

cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open coun ...

. Woodbridge competed for

Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics Great Britain, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The United Kingdom was represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), and the team of selected athletes was offic ...

, in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, China, and finished 25th in the men's modern pentathlon. He also competed at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. where he finished in 10th place despite being ranked 3rd in the world. In 2013 he achieved his best career result when he took the silver medal in the World Championships.

Modern Pentathlon

Woodbridge began swimming with Wellington Swimming Club and joined Telford Athletics Club. He rode horses from the age of three and bought his own horse aged 11. In order to compete in

Pony Club Pony Club is an international youth organization devoted to educating youth about horses and riding. Pony Club organizations exist in over thirty countries worldwide. Origins Pony Club began in Great Britain in 1929 when the Institute of the ...

tetrathlon A tetrathlon (from the numerical prefix "tetra-" meaning four) is a team competition organized by Pony Clubs for its members. It is a variant of the modern pentathlon, without fencing. Thus it comprises the four disciplines of shooting, swimmin ...

s he learnt how to

shoot In botany, a plant shoot consists of any plant stem together with its appendages, leaves and lateral buds, flowering stems, and flower buds. The new growth from seed germination that grows upward is a shoot where leaves will develop. In the spri ...

and by 13 he was also fencing with Much Wenlock Fencing Club. In 1999 he competed in his first pentathlon at the National Championships, finishing third. In 2000 he won the National Championships and joined the Great Britain team for the first time. He won gold at the 2004 World Youth Championships in Bulgaria under the guidance of Gary Hollywood (National Youth Academy Coach) and took two medals in World Cup events and a top-20 finish at the 2006 World Championships whilst still a junior. He achieved the best result of his career to date when he won bronze at the 2011 World Cup Final in London, which was the London 2012 test event for modern pentathlon. He had made a piece of history by becoming the first British male pentathlete to win a World Cup Final medal. That propelled him from 30th in the senior world rankings to 10th – his first appearance in the top10. He started 2012 as the highest-ranked British male pentathlete in the world in 11th and has since climbed to 9th after two 6th places in the first two World Cups of 2012 in Charlotte, USA and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

2008 Summer Olympics

Woodbridge qualified for the 2008 Olympics after the

Australian Olympic Committee Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

were forced to deselect Alex Parygin. Parygin had qualified for the Games by winning the Oceania Championships in Tokyo in 2007 however the

show-jumping Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics. Sometimes shows ...

discipline was not contested at the event due to an outbreak of

equine influenza Equine influenza (horse flu) is the disease caused by strains of influenza A that are enzootic in horse species. Equine influenza occurs globally, previously caused by two main strains of virus: equine-1 (H7N7) and equine-2 (H3N8). The OIE now cons ...

. The British team challenged his inclusion, taking their case to the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its co ...

and when Parygin was withdrawn his place at the Games went to Woodbridge who was the highest-ranked pentathlete not previously qualified. Woodbridge and

Sam Weale Samuel "Sammy" Weale (born 9 February 1982) is a British modern pentathlon, modern pentathlete who has competed at the Olympic Games. Weale competed for Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics, in Beijing, China, and finished 10th in the Modern ...

became the first British men to compete in modern pentathlon at the Olympics since Richard Phelps in 1996. At the Games Woodbridge set a personal best of 1 minute 55.96 seconds in the 200 m freestyle swimming discipline. This was the second fastest time of anyone in the swimming and faster than the previous Olympic record. He finished 12th in the riding, 20th in the run, 29th in fencing and 35th in shooting earning a final overall score of 5168 points. He finished in 25th position, 464 points behind gold medallist

Andrey Moiseyev Andrey Sergeyevich Moiseyev (russian: Андрей Серге́евич Моисеев, born June 3, 1979) is a Russian pentathlete, who won the gold medal in the modern pentathlon at the 2004 Summer Olympics and 2008 Summer Olympics. His 2004 sc ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Woodbridge, Nick 1986 births Living people British male modern pentathletes Modern pentathletes at the 2008 Summer Olympics Modern pentathletes at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic modern pentathletes for Great Britain

Modern Pentathlon

2008 Summer Olympics

See also

References

External links