COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – “The sport of modern pentathlon consists of five events. We have fencing, swimming, horseback riding, running and shooting,” explains Samantha Schultz. Schultz started her run as an Olympian on the USA pentathlon team in 2010.
“I think when I first started the sport, it was kind of a shock to me that I wasn’t funded more. I’m up and coming. I still have to prove that I should be here and that I am worthy of going to the Olympics and I have potential,” says Schultz.
Schultz had so much potential that in 2012 she was able to live at the Olympic Training Center for free, “So I lived, ate, and trained all things at the Olympic Training Center leading up until the Rio Olympics,” says Schultz.
But after the Rio Olympics in 2016, in which she was an alternate, she no longer was able to live at the OTC for free, “I really was never given a reason as to why our resident program was cut. A lot of times things were political and we really didn’t know the depth of it. Essentially, we didn’t get any medals in Rio. So that’s kind of like, well, we don’t perform, so we’re going to have cuts made. No longer could we live there for free access and get the meals for free,” says Schultz.