Orpington-born Choong selected Team GB pentathlete squad for Paris Olympic Games

By Will Castle

Olympic champion Joe Choong has pledged to have girlfriend Liv Green in his heart at Paris 2024 after experiencing the highs and lows of selection all at once.

Choong was announced by Team GB as one of four modern pentathletes competing in the French capital this summer, making the trip across the channel to defend his Tokyo 2020 crown.

While incredibly proud to represent Team GB at a third Olympic Games, the news came tinged with disappointment, as long-term partner and fellow modern pentathlete Green missed out.

Having dreamt of competing alongside each other on sport’s biggest stage, the two-time world champion is now tasked with coming to terms with the fact only one member of the couple will be competing in Paris.

“I’m meant to say I’m incredibly excited to be going to my third Olympics and I definitely am,” he said. “But for the last three years, I’ve been a teammate with my girlfriend, Liv, and she obviously didn’t make the selection.

“It’s been a really mixed week. From my success in Tokyo, I won the gold and that was like a life dream. You grow up and you don’t really think about the second gold, and obviously that’s what I’m going for now.

“But at the same time, attached to that was to experience the Olympics and share that dream with Liv, and it’s not happened.

“For her and myself as well, we’ve been a little bit heartbroken for the last week and it’s been really mixed emotions this week.”

While coming to terms with the outcome, Choong says Green will still come to Paris in full voice, supporting from the stands along with the rest of his family.
To that end, Choong will benefit from Aldi’s Nearest & Dearest programme in Paris. The programme helps maximise support and minimise potential distractions for athletes so that they can focus on their performance and make the most of the unique opportunity to compete on one of the world’s largest stages.

Due to Covid, it was something he was starved of during his Tokyo triumph and the Orpington-born star cannot wait to compete in front of his loved-ones again – vowing to go for gold not just for himself, but for Green as well.

“One of my memories from Rio was just being able to look up and know that my family and friends were in a corner supporting me, and obviously we didn’t have that for Tokyo because of the situation we were in then,” he added.

“If I look at it from a sort of holistic point of view, we went to Rio and there were some organisation issues – but I was 21, I was at my first Olympics so nothing bothered me, I absolutely loved it.

“Then we went to Tokyo and obviously we were in the middle of the pandemic with no crowds, so part of me is thinking I’ll go to Paris and it’ll be like the best Olympics that I’ve been to so far. I’m really excited for that.

“Liv’s supportive, she’ll be there watching and helping. At the end of the day, I’m a professional athlete and a lot of people have problems with the selection process when it doesn’t go their way. I know that we’re not unique in that.

“It would be very easy to throw a tantrum but at the end of the day, I think it’s not about proving anyone right or wrong but it’s just about reflecting who you are, and for me the best way to go and show what we’ve achieved together is to go and compete well for her as well as me.”

Aldi are proud Official Partners of Team GB & ParalympicsGB, supporting all athletes through to Paris 2024

PICTURE: TEAM GB