Chloe Esposito’s tough training under father Daniel reaps Olympic gold medal

THE word on the world circuit of modern pentathlon is that the Esposito family, under coach and father Daniel, train like Spartans. The hard ones.

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THE word on the world circuit of modern pentathlon is that the Esposito family, under coach and father Daniel, train like Spartans. The hard ones.

“​Dad is a very, very tough coach. I hear a lot of the other people say: ‘the Espositos, they train so crazy. They do too much​’,” Chloe Esposito said.

Daniel Esposito shrugs when asked about the madness of “Dad’s way”.

​”​It’s the Australian way, I don’t think it is Dad’s way​,” he said.

​”​I was brought up and did some swimming, nothing fantastic, but the Australians are pretty tough trainers.

​”​And that’s how we train in Australia, and the others when they see it, they think it is a bit over the top. But really it is not. ​”

The gold medal hanging around his daughter’s neck was more than enough proof of that.

Chloe Esposito is congratulated by her dad and coach Daniel Esposito after winning gold in the modern pentathlon. Picture: Cameron Tandy

But as much as the Australian way can be credited for Esposito’s stunning Olympic triumph in Rio on Saturday, the origin is Chloe’s gold is part Hungarian as well.

And above all, the story behind the success from nowhere on Australian TV screens on a Saturday morning is four years of intense sacrifice by the entire Esposito clan.

“Most athletes put a lot of effort in but Max and Chloe have literally sacrificed everything for this,” Chloe’s fiance Matt Cooper says.

“They never worked, they don’t go to parties, they live overseas away from everyone, they’ve committed themselves to training five sports a day, six days a week.”

Cooper knows the sacrifice as well as any; he and Chloe have been partners for three years and most of that time has been long-distance. Prior to Rio, he hadn’t seen his future bride for five months.

​”We are professional FaceTimers,” he jokes.

The only time they spend time together is when Chloe is home in Sydney injured “so even that’s bittersweet”.

Chloe Esposito crosses the line to win the combined running/shooting portion of the women's modern pentathlon.

Their tyranny of distance is linked to the reason why no-one knew Esposito’s name prior to Saturday morning.

Modern pentathlon is not big enough in Australia for Chloe and Max — a 19-year-old who is Australia’s male entrant in the sport in Rio — to get good enough competition, particularly in fencing.

​So dad, Chloe and Max all moved to Budapest more than three years ago.

Mum Suzanne runs the family business, a swim school in their Casula backyard, and sees her kids whenever possible.

Sister Emily lives in Melbourne and almost qualified for the Olympics as a shooter.

“They have sacrificed so much for us,” Max says.

“Mum stays and earns money so we three can live in Europe and train.”

Silver medallist Elodie Clouvel of France, gold medallist Chloe Esposito of Australia and bronze medallist Oktawia Nowacka of Poland pose on the podium during the medal ceremony.

Daniel didn’t just do a “bit of swimming”.

He competed for Australia in the LA Olympics, and finished midfield. He uses his mistakes and regrets as a constant guide point, so the Espositos train, train and then train some more. Six days a week. Multiple sessions a day.

Compared to Chloe and Max, Spartans had it easy, in fact.

“But it has paid off. I couldn’t have done what I did today without Dad,” Chloe says.

“It’s been a tough four years but it has been worth it.”

Chloe Espositio’s journey to gold

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In the stands, Cooper’s heart almost burst out his chest watching Chloe running to gold. Mum Suzanne was there too.

All that sacrifice was justified in the space of 12 magical minutes.

Chloe and Cooper will go home and plan a wedding for February, and soak up the deserved exposure for the gold medallist in Australia.

At some point they’ll talk about Tokyo, and figure out another four years of the Austro-Hungarian way.

“If she wants to go to Tokyo, we’ll make it work,” Cooper said.

“We always do.”