London 2012 Olympics: Mhairi Spence expected to bring final flourish

IT IS the final medal event of these Olympic Games, and the scheduling is anything but coincidental.

Just as the men’s road race was programmed for Day One in the hope that Mark Cavendish would give Team GB a flying start, so the women’s modern pentathlon has been inked in for Day 16, in the hope – or perhaps even expectation – that our leading competitor will round off a wildly successful Games for the home nation with gold.

So, no pressure then on Mhairi Spence, the world champion from Inverness. But, while the 27-year-old will be cheered on by thousands at the conclusion of the event in Greenwich Park, she has at least enjoyed a stress-free build-up to the Games.

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That world title in Rome, which also led the British women to team gold, meant that Spence was all but guaranteed a place at the Games, and allowed her to concentrate on her preparations in the seclusion of the Pyrenees. The surroundings were idyllic, but there was no thought of forgetting the purpose of the training.

“It’s been nice to shut ourselves off and just focus on the training, but it’s great to think I’m working towards the Olympics and I’m making every day and every session count in the hope I can produce a special performance,” Spence said. “We’re really lucky athletes to be in the situation where we’re in the prime of our career and competing in an Olympic Games at home. There are so many athletes before us and after us won’t ever get that opportunity, and it makes going to the Olympic Games more special. It’s not going to happen for a long time afterwards and I feel very blessed. I’m ridiculously excited about it all.”

Besides enjoying the good fortune of having a home Games to compete in at just the right stage of their careers, Spence and the current generation of British modern pentathletes are also privileged to be able to tap into the expertise of their predecessors. Since the women’s event was introduced at the Sydney Games a dozen years ago, Britons have won medals every time: Scotland’s Stephanie Cook claimed a memorable gold in 2000, with Kate Allenby taking bronze; Georgina Harland also won bronze four years later, and Heather Fell was a silver medallist last time out on Beijing.

Spence’s team-mate Samantha Murray won bronze at the world championships behind the Scot, but both women are aware that there is no automatic translation of form from that event to this. Harland, for example, was world No.1 going into Athens, and the closing event, the cross-country run, was her strongest, but she was simply left with too much to do. Having been as low as 26th early on, she started the run in 14th, and the course was simply not long enough to make up the 49-second leeway between her and the leaders.

The critical discipline, the crux of the competition and the one where so much can go wrong, is the showjumping. Fencing, the first event, is a matter of skill and self-control, with every competitor taking on every other one in succession. Swimming, which follows, is also about technical expertise as well as strength and speed. Of course, showjumping demands mastery of the equine arts, but there is also a large element of chance thrown in, as riders are allotted horses rather than being able to choose their own mounts.

Every horse in the event is given a number, and the leader after the first two disciplines draws a number out of a bag to determine which horse she rides. The other competitors are allotted horses in a sequence determined by that initial draw.

Get an unruly horse, one which is not on the top of its form, or is used to responding to a different kind of rider, and the game could be up. But get through that event, and the stage is set for the dramatic conclusion – the combined event, which is part of the modern pentathlon for the first time.

There has long been a simmering of discontent from some nations about the sport, the argument being that it is too elitist and should not be part of the Olympic programme. It was Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Games, who introduced the sport in 1912. It partly reflected the ancient Greek pentathlon, which consisted of four athletics events and a wrestle, but was also designed to showcase the talents which an army officer would require to fight his way clear of an enemy.

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The response of the organisers to the critics has been to bend a little and adapt it, but the opposition appears likely to continue. Today, Spence will be able to ignore that opposition, all right. Whether she is able to cast aside the challenge from her opponents on the piste, in the pool and in Greenwich Park remains to be seen.

HOW IT WORKS

• FENCING

Copper Box, Olympic Park, 8am

Competitors fence each other using electric epees. First hit wins, and bouts last a maximum of one minute. The athletes receive points according to how well they have done.

• SWIMMING

Aquatic Centre, Olympic Park, 12.35pm

Seeded in heats according to their personal bests, competitors swim 200 metres freestyle. Each swimmer’s time translates into a points total, as in the heptathlon or decathlon in athletics.

• RIDING

Showjumping arena, Greenwich Park, 2.35pm

One showjumping round each over 12 obstacles. The leading athlete after the first two events draws her horse by lot, and the others are allocated their mounts according to the number of the first horse drawn.

• COMBINED EVENT

Greenwich Park, 6pm

New for these Games, this is a biathlon without snow, in which athletes run then stop and shoot at a series of targets. They do this three times in all, running a total of 3,000m and being required to hit 15 targets.

The start is handicapped according to ranking from the first three events. The first woman to cross the line is the winner.