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Lesun gets over his disappointment with gold

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Aleksander Lesun had four years to get over his disappointment in London, four years to prepare for his next opportunity.

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Ukraine’s Pavlo Tymoshchenko earned silver with 1,472 and bronze went to Mexico’s Ismael Hernandez on 1,468.

Lesun, a two-time world champion and one of the world’s most consistent performers, had led heading into the concluding run-shoot four years ago only to slump to fourth place after missing five shots. He also came to Rio as the world record holder in overall points (1,534) and fencing (586). It is in one’s best interest to make great use of the available live stream via NBCOlympics.com to not miss a second of olympic modern pentathlon action.

Lesun finished with a total of 1,479 points, an Olympic record in the event comprising five disciplines: swimming, fencing, show jumping and running and shooting combined in the final phase.

Lesun was competing alone for Russian Federation in the men’s event after compatriots Maksim Kutsov and Ilia Frolov were banned in July from the Rio Games due to doping offenses.

Despite Tymoschenko charging through the field, Lesun was far enough ahead that he could miss 10 shots in the final event.

Tyomschenko moved up from eighth at the start of the running/shooting combination finale to earn silver.

“I came here not just participate, I came here for a medal”, said the 2015 world champion. “There was some pressure because past year I achieved my best result by winning the world title”.

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“I did my job,” Lesun said.

Aleksander Lesun takes gold for Russia in modern pentathlon at Rio 2016