The modern pentathlete Patrick Dogue wants to be even better in Tokyo than in 2016 in Rio.
It starts on Saturday.
Oberdorfen / Tokyo - Patrick Dogue was five seconds short of a medal five years ago.
From Saturday morning he will make his second attempt at the Olympics.
The 29-year-old, who grew up in Oberdorfen and now lives in Potsdam, is part of the four-person German team of modern pentathletes.
He was flying to Tokyo with mixed feelings about Corona, Dogue told the local newspaper a few days ago.
“The Olympic spirit is overshadowed by a mega-hygiene concept.
Tests take place every day in advance and during the competition. ”In addition, the risk of infection is much higher“ when around 15,000 people live in a small village who come from all over the world ”.
Nevertheless, he is looking forward to the competitions.
“The situation is what it is.” Personally, he has resolved to “be a little better everywhere than five years ago - in all disciplines”.
Dogue had already delivered an outstanding competition in Rio, at that time he was on the medal course after swimming, fencing and riding, before he was in the Combined - running four laps of 800 meters and aiming the laser pistol at the targets ten meters away in between - twelve missed shots performed.
In the end, Dogue finished sixth - five seconds behind the bronze medalist, 9.03 seconds would have been an Olympic victory.
“That was a bit of a headache,” says Dogue today.
“I wasn't really annoyed.
All in all, it was a great competition. "
Five years have now passed.
Dogue has long been a world class, won world cups, became military world champion, won the relay world championship title with Alex Nobis in 2019 and this year world championship silver with Fabian Liebig.
However, there is no team competition at the Olympics.
So it has to work out individually.
You can never guarantee a medal, says the sports soldier, "but I have made up my mind to do everything a little better than in 2016. Then it will also work with a top ranking."
Dogue still shoots - he told the online portal rbb24 - with the gun from Rio.
The handle is formed with a two-component wooden spatula from the hardware store, precisely adapted to his hand and fits perfectly.
You don't have to change anything anymore.
At 29 years of age, however, he was “almost fully grown”, said the 1.97-meter man, who no longer assumes a “spontaneous growth spurt”.
What also belongs to a Dogue competition: a little bribe.
Dogue reveals that he always has a lump of sugar in his pocket.
For the horse that is drawn for the riding competition.
Horse and rider have 20 minutes to get used to each other.
A little candy shouldn't be wrong.
Incidentally, Dogue started his sports career on the football field: as a six-year-old at FC Hörgersdorf, under the strict eyes of a certain Werner Lorant.
The Erdinger sports teacher Susanne Falkenstein once brought the Oberdorf native to the modern pentathlon.
She will cheer for her former student on Saturday, as well as his former Erdinger swimming coach Harry Sommer and his school specialist Andreas Voglsammer, who is now a professional footballer with the first division club Union Berlin.
Dogue has lived in Potsdam for many years. He has never forgotten his homeland. When the DOSB asked him to name three important stations for an image campaign before the games, there was no question for him: "Oberdorfen, Potsdam, Tokyo."
