Team GB star withdraws from Olympic final just HOURS before event due to illness in huge blow to Britain’s medal prospects on final day in Paris

Team GB have announced that reigning Olympic modern pentathlon champion Kate French will not defend her title in Paris due to illness.

The 33-year-old hoped to regain the title she had won so magnificently in Tokyo, but she had to withdraw just before the start at 10am.

‘We can confirm that Kate French has withdrawn from today’s modern pentathlon final due to illness,’ Team GB said in a statement on X. ‘This is an extremely difficult decision for Kate as she had hoped to defend her Olympic title and compete in show jumping for the final time at the Olympic Games.’

French had easily qualified via the semi-finals on Saturday and was among the favourites for a medal.

Team GB still have a strong contender for the title in Kerenza Bryson, who set an Olympic record by winning her semi-final.

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Team GB had already suffered a disappointment at the Paris event after Joe Choong, who won gold in the men’s modern pentathlon in Tokyo three years ago, finished well outside the medals.

The 29-year-old finished ninth on Saturday. After the event, he said he would have done better in Paris 2024 if his girlfriend had also been selected by Team GB. Olivia Green won bronze at last year’s European Games

“The saying goes, ‘A happy athlete is a good athlete,’ and I think that’s true,” he said. “I haven’t been particularly happy with the training environment for a couple of months.”

He added: ‘My girlfriend. I wanted my family to compete with me. That process was really disappointing. I didn’t fully understand the decision-making process. It was hard to process that. It made my job mentally a lot harder.’