‘I’ve seen the inside of most police stations around the world... travelling with a gun is difficult.’ Welcome to the world of the modern pentathlete

Modern pentahlete, Natalaya Coyle, sits down for a Q&A with Brendan O'Brien. 

Q: How does someone become a modern pentathlete?

I started when I was in Pony Club. I could do four of the five sports: running, swimming, shooting and riding. You just need to have a love of lots of different sports. I had won two or three national tetrathlon titles first – running, swimming, shooting and riding – and a few international ones. I was thinking ‘where to next?’ because I had reached an age where you have to stop at Pony Club. That’s when someone introduced me to fencing.