SHE might not have come away with a medal but East Lancashire's Samantha Murray insists she can leave Rio 2016 with her head held high after fighting to the bitter end.

London 2012 silver medallist Murray had a difficult start to her Rio adventure on Thursday as she sat 31st following the fencing ranking round.

But the 26-year-old returned 24 hours later with a chip on her shoulder and quickly began to set the record straight.

Murray kicked things off on day two by coming fourth in the swim before picking up eight points in the bonus ranking round – twice as many as anyone else in the field.

The Clitheroe ace could only muster 22nd in the show jumping portion, but came home seventh in the combined run/shoot.

That left her ninth overall on 1,321 points, and while it might not have been the medal she was hoping for Murray’s mood had at least improved at the end of the competition.

“The fencing was just a nightmare and I went home feeling heartbroken to be honest,” she said.

“After four years of sacrificing everything and all the hard work, I just wasn’t myself out there.

“I woke up this morning and thought ‘you know what? This is the Olympic Games. I just have to embrace it’. Am I going to be here again? I really don’t think so, just embrace the atmosphere, soak it up and do myself proud.

“I went out there and tried my absolute hardest in all of the events. Pentathlon being pentathlon I had some unlucky poles in the riding which ended up being expensive. I was two seconds down on the swimming time I wanted to achieve.

“But I ran my heart out there. I left it all out there and I shot pretty well as well considering it’s the Olympic Games. So I’m pleased with that and to finish top ten is a really steady result.”

With Murray’s teammate Kate French finishing three places above her on 1,331 points, Rio 2016 marks the first Olympic Games where Great Britain have failed to pick up a women’s modern pentathlon medal.

What’s more, Murray missed out on the chance to become the first women to climb the modern pentathlon podium at two Games.

“Obviously I wanted to win a medal – I wanted to be the first woman to win medals at two Games,” she added.

“It still hasn’t been done so maybe there’s a curse on it. But I’ve just got to be happy with what I’ve achieved and now I’ll enjoy the rest of the Olympic experience.”

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