Golden Olympic moment Aussie Chloe Esposito created modern pentathlon history
To mark 100 days from the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Nine.com.au asked you what your favourite Olympic memories were in a survey. The response was overwhelming! We chose 50 of them to re-live, one a day, before new memories are made in Paris. Scroll on for today's memory.
With tenacity written all over her face, Chloe Esposito crashed into the finishing tape and created history.
The momentous achievement came at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, where the lion-hearted modern pentathlon competitor from Sydney's west became the first Australian to win an Olympic medal in the sport.
Esposito grabbed gold by crushing her rivals with a powerful finishing charge in the combined shooting-running discipline.
Watch the video at the top of the page to see the moment Chloe Esposito won modern pentathlon gold in Rio!
She had entered the closing leg of the classic Olympic sport, after the fencing, swimming and horse-riding segments, in seventh place. The leader at the time, Oktawia Nowacka of Poland, had a 45-second head start on Esposito.
But by the time the Australian had her pistol in hand for the fourth and final time, she was trailing only the Pole.
Chloe Esposito shooting in Rio. Getty Images
Esposito then nailed all five shots and began her run for home at Deodoro Stadium, where she gritted through the 3200m run and reached the finishing tape 16 seconds ahead of her closest rival.
She racked up a total points score of 1372, setting an Olympic record.
Tears flowed as she draped the Australian flag over her and soaked up the golden moment with her dad and coach Daniel, who had competed in modern pentathlon at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games.
Chloe Esposito en route to glory. Getty Images
"I knew I'd come out first [from the shooting competition] but I didn't look at the other girls' targets because that is one thing I try to do," Esposito said.
"I wasn't sure how many shots they had or still needed to go so I thought, 'They're probably going to be right behind me'.
"But then I was running and I could hear the person over the microphone and they weren't saying they were leaving [the shooting station] yet and I was running and running.
"Finally, I heard that they had left the shooting range and I turned back and saw that it was quite a big distance and I know that I can run and I knew they wouldn't catch me."
