Individual, Women

Like the men’s competition, 36 athletes took part in the individual women’s event with a maximum of two athletes per country. The qualification points were added together from competition results between January and August 2015. Five continental championships afforded twenty places each per gender: one each from Africa and Oceania, five from Asia, eight from Europe, and five from the Americas with a maximum of one quota per NOC. Other athletes who qualified were the winner of the 2015 UIPM World Cup final plus the top three finishers at the World Championships in Berlin. Also qualified were the top three ranked athletes at the 2016 UIPM World Championships not previously qualified, plus the six highest ranked athletes not already qualified as per the world ranking list at 1 June 2016. Finally, the host nation, Brazil, had been guaranteed a single place each in the men’s and women’s events. Two wild cards were allocated by the UIPM.

The show jumping event threw the competition wide open, with six athletes out of contention because of repeated refusals. This included former gold medalists Lena Schöneborn and Laura Asadauskaitė of Lithuania. The Cuban Leydi Moya required medical treatment after a severe fall, but continued to participate in the combined event. In international competitions, there are rarely more than two eliminations per show jumping event.

Gold medal favorite Schöneborn finished second in the fencing event and had a great chance to collect her second gold medal until the riding ended her hopes. The same applied to Asadauskaitė. However, Chloe Esposito from Australia was seventh with a handicap of 45 seconds going into the last event, but with a strong performance in the combined she claimed the gold medal. Modern Pentathlon is certainly a family affair for the Espositos. Chloe’s father and coach Daniel competed at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, while she was joined by her younger brother Max in Rio. Her sister Emily was a shooter who competed at the 2010 Youth Olympics in Singapore and at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.