VERSAILLES, France (Reuters) – Annika Zillekens had done an eight kilometre morning run and was about to go and see her family, a day after ending her career, when the call came telling the German she was in the Modern Pentathlon final.
Without any preparation, the late replacement for Britain’s unwell Olympic champion Kate French jumped in a car and arrived at the Palace of Versailles some 20 minutes before the competition was due to start.
Ten minutes later and the 34-year-old was on a horse, ready for 10 fences in front of a lively crowd of around 15,000 spectators at the Paris Games.
She managed a clear round.
That was already a big result for someone who had been heading for retirement after failing to qualify the regular way for the 18-woman final, and it was also some sort of personal redemption.
In Tokyo three years ago the equestrian round triggered a crisis in the sport after her horse refused to jump and was struck by the German coach. In the fallout it was decided to replace show jumping with obstacle courses after Paris.
“My big goal was to show good horse riding,” said Zillekens, who had a fault-ridden round in her semi-final on Saturday.
“This is, like, the best thing that could happen. And it was a really nice horse, and it was a really fun riding, with all the spectators.
“I just thought, like, OK, let’s try to enjoy the last competition of the career. Because sometimes, as an athlete, you forget to enjoy, because you are in your tunnel.”
Zillekens said having to fence and swim and run a further three km — with four rounds of laser shooting — was tough, particularly as she had not cooled down the day before as she normally would.
It was not long before Zillekens, who had lingered at the venue on Saturday to watch the men’s final, realised that her preparations had not been ideal for a battle against rivals who had not let up for a moment.
“When I jumped into the pool, I was like, hmm, not really,” she said.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ken Ferris)
