The Wives Club

Written by Cami Bremer

One of Eli’s best pentathlon buddies watched his longtime girlfriend and British teammate Katie Livingston run into the bronze medal position yesterday. I overheard him later talking about how nervous he was while watching the ride (which can sometimes really shake the rankings up). “Welcome to the club,” I thought. The wives club, that is.

It is common knowledge among the US pentathletes that I never quite get to see the full event—that is because I’m turning away or closing my eyes during the first half of Eli’s ride. Eli’s actually a wonderful rider, but it is more nerve wracking than anything to watch your husband ride into a ring on a horse he doesn’t know and just hope that he drew the lucky one…It seems that today he did draw a good one. And as an added bonus, the first round rider (the one in 4th place and the one who will ride Eli’s horse before him) is a very good rider. Sometimes having a bad rider on your good horse is just as bad as drawing a bad horse.

I remember my mom telling me that she was more worn out after swim meets than I was, and I didn’t quite understand. That is, until a married a world-class pentathlete. While Eli is shooting, fencing, swimming, riding and running, my heart is beating harder and faster than his!

Due to overnight shifting ground under the temporary pool, they switched the order of the riding and swimming today. Surprisingly, that does calm the wife’s nerves. Perhaps I’m not as idealistic as I think in that I just want him to ‘survive’ the ride. No, I want him to do well—HE wants to do well and there’s nothing more frustrating than putting together a great competition and then drawing a bad horse. You see, Eli’s strongest sports are swimming and running, both sports of which you are in COMPLETE CONTROL (unlike fencing and riding). So at least this way he will know what he has to do in the swim and run to reach his goal. So, as I compose this email during the break before Eli’s ride, yes, my nerves like this order much better!

And I have to admit that it’s much easier to be watching in person than waiting for results at home. There are a lot of intricacies and dramatic stories that just don’t come across in the results. For example, one looking at yesterday’s women’s results may wonder why Georgina Harland, 2004 Olympic Bronze Medalist and FANTASTIC RUNNER, ran so slowly. But what they couldn’t see from the results was her charge from the 30s into the low teens during the first 2000 meters. And they certainly couldn’t see her when she reentered the stadium clearly hobbling on a badly injured leg. And it’s furthermore unlikely that anyone except for those there saw her teammates hoist her onto the medal podium when their team was awarded the Team silver. THAT is enough to bring tears to any spectator’s eyes. But especially for those whose emotions are uncontrollable by the end of the day—those in the Wives’ Club!