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Modern woman

American wins pentathlon silver

Emily deRiel (left) celebrates her silver medal in the pentathlon with U.S. teammate Mary Beth Iagorashvili, who finished fourth. AP

SYDNEY, Australia (CNNSI.com) -- It took a while for the feeling to set in for Philadelphia native Emily deRiel after she captured the silver medal on Sunday in the first Olympic women's modern pentathlon.

Britain's Stephanie Cook won the gold, after she passed deRiel on the fiinal lap of the 3-kilometer run. Britain's Kate Allenby won bronze.

"I can't believe it still," deRiel said. "I feel like maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and it'll be the real thing.

"I don't know how it happened. I really don't."

DeRiel's medal was the first for an American since 1960, when Robert Beck won the bronze. The last American to win a silver was George Moore in 1948.

And the Americans almost put two athletes on the medals podium, as Mary Beth Iagorashvili of San Antonio finished fourth. Iagorashvili was searching for her teammate as soon as she crossed the finish line, wrapping her in a bear hug when she found her.

The two clasped hands and raised their arms in triumph, with Iagorashvili pointing at deRiel and nodding her head in pride. Iagorashvili then picked deRiel up and gave her a congratulatory piggy-back ride.

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"It makes me so happy," Iagorashvili said. "I'm glad to say I was part of getting her ready. She's a great athlete. I'm so proud of her."

To say deRiel's silver-medal finish was a surprise is just a bit of an understatement. DeRiel, who took up modern pentathlon when she was studying at Oxford in 1996-97, started competing at the international level only this year.

And modern pentathlon is hardly a sport for novices -- or the faint of heart. It consists of five events, meant to recreate the trials of an ancient officer who was brought down in enemy territory as he tried to deliver a message on horseback. Having defended himself with a pistol and sword, the officer swam across a raging river before running through woods to deliver the message.

In Olympic competition, athletes fire 20 shots at 20 targets with a 4.5-milimeter air pistol; fence in a 24-person round robin; swim a 200-meter freestyle race; ride a horse over a course that has 12 jumps; and, finally, run a 3-kilometer race.

Doesn't sound too bad? Try doing all of that in one day.

"I have it in me. I'm just a very inexperienced pentathlete and experience counts for a lot," deRiel said. "I just wanted to have a good time. I wanted to enjoy the day, enjoy the experience of being here."

She did more than that. She won the shooting event, and was in second after the fencing, probably her weakest event. She was in third after the swim and climbed back into first after the riding event.

That just left the run, where athletes go off in staggered starts based on their scores. DeRiel went first, but lurking five seconds back was Allenby. Cook was 49 seconds behind.

"The run's always been my strongest event," said Cook, who beat deRiel in the run by one minute last year. "I knew it wasn't going to be easy. It was really just a question of being able to pace it right."

Allenby made her move first, catching up to deRiel as they finished the first 1-kilometer lap. Cook made up 30 seconds in her first lap, catching Iagorashvili.

By the end of the second lap, Cook was less than 10 seconds behind deRiel. A few minutes later, she ran past her.

"I was thinking she'd blow me out of the water, but I had a lot of fight left in me," deRiel said. "I wasn't going to let her dust me."

After Cook went by, it was simply a matter of not letting anyone else pass her.

"I said, 'I'm going to fight to the end,'" deRiel said. "I'm not going to lose a medal."

She didn't, easily finishing in front of Allenby. Then all that was left was the celebrating. After catching her breath, deRiel grabbed an American flag from the audience and began jogging around the track.

When Iagorashvili found her, the two shared the flag as they waved it at the cheering audience.

"It's just like a dream. It really is," deRiel said. "To go down in the books as one of the first medalists in the Olympics, it means a tremendous amount."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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