Coyle aiming for the top at Rio

One of the proud sponsors of the Ireland Olympic team, Electric Ireland, features Meath pentathlete Natalya Coyle in their latest promotions for the Rio Games with the tagline 'This is one sequel that will be better than the original’ and the Tara athlete is hoping that will be the case.
As a 21-year-old in 2012 Coyle entered the London Olympics as an unheralded Modern Pentathlete with little or no chance of competing with the so-called 'big guns’, but what transpired catapulted her into the bright lights of her chosen discipline and now she is ready to prove to the world she is one of the best.
Coyle’s ninth place finish in the Modern Pentathlon on the final day of action at the 2012 Olympics was one of the THE stories of the games from an Irish persepctive.
Although she didn’t win a medal, her performance in London was right up there with Katie Taylor, John Joe Nevin, Paddy Barnes, Michael Conlon, Cian O’Connor and Rob Heffernan, but now Coyle wants a podium finish and she believes she can make a bigger impact in Rio.
“Well sport never stays still and people are always getting better so after London I sat down and looked at the areas that I could improve upon. Each year you have to get better because your competitors are doing the same, so that’s what I aim for,” Coyle told a news briefing at the Olympic media day.
Any improvement on her ninth place finish in London would mark another remarkable achievement for the 25-year-old who had an anxious wait before she was confirmed on the team for Rio having taken a tumble in the European championships which threatened to leave her outside the rankings for qualification.
However, Coyle’s outstanding performances with her partner Arthur Lanigan-O’Keeffe in the Modern Pentathlon World Cups, which included a gold medal-winning display in Florida in May, beating Katsiaryna Arol and Mikalai Hayanouski of Belarus, and her consistently excellent displays in individual competition meant her selection was almost inevitable.
Now Coyle is looking forward to competing on the biggest stage of them all in a sport she has loved since a very young age.
“I was always really keen on it when I was younger, I wasn’t always the best at every sport, but I gave everything a try and found my niche that way,”she said.
“I haven’t been competing internationally for that long, only since I was about 17 so it’s never too late to start something new. If I can inspire anyone to take up any new sports or to keep active then that’s something that I really would like to do.
“I started taking part in competitions – just as a participation thing – and eventually I got better and better.
“When I began to put in some training I started to win national and international events. I wanted to go on, so I picked up a fifth sport and that makes it Modern Pentathlon.”
Being a pentathlete requires a lot of discilpine, determination and courage and Coyle loves the challenge associated with having to master five different sports.
She got to the stage where she was able to live the Olympic dream in London, but being at the pinnacle was something Coyle never thought she would achieve.
“I enjoy it because it means training is never the same and I get a multitude of different sports done on the same day. I don’t know if I would like doing the same one all the time,” said Coyle.
“Running is quite difficult because you have to be as fast as you can and then fencing, which is kind of like sword fighting, is very technical and it takes a long time to build up the skill level to become a good fencer.
“It wasn’t really a dream (to compete in the Olympics) because I never thought I would get there, so it was a fantastic surprise when I did. I qualified quite late as well in 2012 and was I only 21, which is very young for the Olympic Games so it was a great honour,” concluded the Meath athlete.