Regardless of the depth of our relationship, each interaction leaves an imprint, and just as a tiny drop of rain leaves no visible mark on a stone, yet millions of tiny drops will erode and change the shape and texture of the stone, our lives are forever changed by each and every interaction. It’s part of why I studied sociology in college: the shared experience, the successes and failures of human contact and those relationships, is something that we all have related to each other. There are so many variables and unknowns when we come face-to-face with another human being, that it can be awkward, intimidating, challenging, and even terrifying for some. Their body language, verbal communication, how they handle the intricate details of human interaction: all of these things intrigue me. That made gold for Fell nearly impossible but, considering how close she once came to quitting altogether, she was clearly delighted to have silver.I love to people watch to sit and observe how people interact. Schoneborn extended her lead once more with a round in which she picked up just a single penalty. She rode excellently in the circumstances but was still disappointed to topple two fences. That was just the kind of performance Fell needed to challenge Schoneborn, but with the horses being randomly allocated from the stable, Fell was unlucky to get the only animal described as "lazy" in the official guide. Her lack of ability with the épée meant she was out of contention for the medals, though she was one of only three riders to produce a flawless round in the showjumping. Having competed in the triathlon at Sydney, Taormina became the first woman in history to take part in three different sports at three different Games. The fastest time in the event came from the United States' Sheila Taormina, who won a gold medal in the 4x100m relay in 1996 she trimmed some six seconds off the Olympic record to finish in 2:08:86. While Schoneborn's swimming was weaker than that of either of the two Britons, it was not so poor as to threaten her position. Her time of 2:12:77 was the third quickest and made her one of five swimmers to break the Olympic record in the discipline. It was Fell's outstanding event of the day. Ninety minutes after the fencing the pentathletes lined up for the 200m freestyle swim. By that point Schoneborn had established a healthy 60-point lead over the field. Livingston, her performances in the three remaining events eventually pushing her up to seventh, was back in 20th. Neither was especially strong in the fencing, the most demanding event, requiring each athlete to fight 35 times in three hours.įell won 20 of her bouts, which put her in joint-third place overall. After the morning's shooting she was in sixth place, having scored 185 out of a possible 200. If she had not been forced to do that, she might easily have taken the gold. She admits she had to put the last two "on the back-burner" while she was working her way towards qualification. Fell did not just have to fit her running, swimming and riding around those three jobs but had to travel to Bath for shooting and fencing. The modern pentathlon, designed by Pierre de Coubertin to reflect the skills required by 19th-century military officers, is very hard to practise. Fell is not bitter about the funding cut, or at least she is not now she has a medal, saying: "To be honest, it gave me the kick up the arse I needed." When she qualified for Beijing last summer her funding was restored. She took up three part-time jobs, as a swimming coach, a barmaid and a physiotherapist, and returned to training at the pony club run by the Allenbys. "I couldn't afford to live in Bath and basically wasn't welcome there, so I went back home to make a decision about what to do next." In 2006, while she was training at Bath University, her funding was cut because a series of shin injuries had prevented her from competing. It was moving back to Tavistock, to live, practise and work that got Fell to Beijing. Both athletes are from Tavistock, in Devon, and it was Allenby's parents who taught Fell how to ride and shoot. Allenby, who won bronze at Sydney in 2000, has been a particular influence on Fell. The three previous medallists, Stephanie Cook, Kate Allenby and Georgina Harland had gathered together at Allenby's house in the UK to watch Fell and her team-mate Katy Livingston compete on TV. Her silver meant British women have won four medals in the modern pentathlon in the last three Olympics.
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