45 days and counting...

45 days and counting, and time appears to be accelerating towards London 2012.  June saw the announcement of the Modern Pentathlon team in the historic surroundings of the Old Naval College at Greenwich – the venue for our riding and combined running and shooting events.  With controversy surrounding some other Olympic team selections, we were eager to cross every ‘t’ and dot every ‘i’ in following our process and picking the right athletes.  This is a moment of truth for management – do you have a policy that is fair and transparent, and at the same time provides scope for professional judgement?  With athletes gaining qualification results over a 12 month period this is not as easy as it sounds; turn the clock back 12 months, for instance, and Samantha Murray, so stunning this season, wasn’t in the top five on the British rankings. 

As it was, our two women selected themselves with their podium finishes at May’s World Championships and Nick Woodbridge’s consistently strong season made him the strongest of our three top class men.  Beijing Olympian Sam Weale took the second of the men’s selections ahead of Jamie Cooke who had done so well to reach the qualifying standard last season as well as win the world junior title in the autumn.  Tough on him as it was, I feel very confident that his time will come.

There is no question that the hype surrounding a home Games has the potential to distract us in the final lead into London.  To mitigate this, we will go abroad.  The first of two overseas preparation camps started this week, and after a 10 day interlude at Bath we will be back out to France for the final run in.  With two new Olympians in the team, I am conscious that they will not get to experience the magic of the Opening Ceremony, but we will do our best to mark it in style nonetheless.  Competing on the last two days of the Games means that the experience they will have of the Olympics will be condensed and tightly managed.  The skill is to tap into the inspiration of being part of a home Games whilst re-focusing on the job in hand.  So much was there to take in, that I remember my first visit to the Olympic village restaurant as an athlete in 1988 lasted 3 hours - and I only went in for a snack!

After the team announcement the next big moment for the athletes will be the Team GB kitting out at Loughborough University, site of the official final preparation camp.  There are more than 80 items to be collected and I have warned the team to have no more than two people per car – otherwise something will have to be left behind.  Being inducted into the team is always a special moment, and I am glad it is happening at one the UK’s finest sporting institutions with a rich heritage of producing Olympians.