Joe Choong narrowly missed out on an Olympic medal in the modern pentathlon despite a gutsy display that saw him go into the final discipline in the silver medal position.
The 21-year-old from Orpington put in strong performance in the first three events – swimming, fencing and riding – to go into the combined running/shooting competition that decides the medals in second place.
Choong started the final discipline at the Deodoro Stadium nine seconds behind Russian Alexander Lesun, who led the field off, and 10 seconds before Egypt's third placed athlete Amro Elgeziry.
He was comfortable for the first two laps and he shot well and kept up with the Russian leader - who ultimately won gold - but the second and third shoots cost him dearly as a number of missed targets saw him fall back into the field and finish in tenth place.
“All of the competition has been good until those two shoots at the end there,” said Choong. “That really just threw my medal chances out of the window.
“I guess at the moment I am disappointed but I know coming into the competition I wouldn’t have been upset coming 10th.
“I know if I had shot like I normally do I would have won a medal so that gives me great confidence going forward.
“I have absolutely loved the Olympic experience. There are so many ifs and buts but at the end of the day I have come tenth and that is more than I would have expected four years ago.”
Choong’s Team GB compatriot Jamie Cooke finished in 14th place which was largely due to an under par display in the fencing.
“The fencing wasn’t very good at all today,” said Cooke. “It is gutting because you put three years of hard work into this.
“Fencing has been going really well this year and the World Cups have been really good for me.
“This is just not the best time to have a bad day at the office.
He also had works of encouragement for Choong, who Cooke believes could be a future star of the sport.
“Joe has put himself down a bit but we always say in Bath, he is not your average Joe. He is incredibly talented and if I had half that talent I would be laughing.
“He has come here to his first Olympic Games, he is probably one of the youngest here and he has smashed it.
“He will be disappointed now but when he goes away and thinks about it he will be so proud of it. He has a massive future.”