Extraordinary expertise

As team leader, my focus is now on minimising all unnecessary interference and maximising a sense of order and control.  To do this, I seek to handle proactively anything that is not happening on the field of play and have an answer to the myriad of questions that inevitably arise once a team member steps into the Olympic environment.  It is a privilege to be working with people I consider to be leading experts in their chosen field and in Performance Director Jan Bartu, women's head coach Istvan Nemeth and national fencing coach Frici Foldes that now extends to 12 years. Alongside them, we have with us specialists from the English Institute of Sport (EIS) in nutrition, rehabilitation, strength and conditioning, performance psychology and sports medicine with us in France, not to mention sparring partners from other nations - a truly holistic support structure.

So who are the main contenders for the Modern Pentathlon at London 2012? Well, beyond our own athletes it is difficult not to look towards the Russian men who have won every world championships title since 2008, and the reigning women's Olympic champion Lena Schoneborn of Germany. After winning the European title in 2011 and the first World Cup in 2012 she went quietly under the radar for the rest of this season. This may be a conscious strategy to prepare without too much hype and simply deliver when it counts.  We're busy doing exactly the same thing.

I hope you'll all enjoy the Opening Ceremony tonight - we'll be in France, preparing to perform.

Why the athletes' village is just like Euro Disney

A few weeks ago, I managed to have a day at Euro Disney with my 3 young children. The twelve rather tiring and over stimulating hours we spent in that extraordinary environment was a timely reminder of what awaits us in the athletes’ village in a few days’ time.

Instead of 'Thunder mountain' and 'Indiana Jones and the temple of Doom', we have the Olympic Village dining hall that seats 4,400 people and is open 24/7, and thousands of athletes of all shapes and sizes from 203 nations speaking every language imaginable!
Open the curtains in our apartment and we will look across the Olympic Park at the Stadium and the Olympic flame - how's that for a 'magic kingdom'?

Our challenge is to compete on the final two days of the Games when more than 90% of athletes have finished their events and the village becomes (in)famous for its party atmosphere.  Being inspired by the Olympic spirit but not distracted by it is the order of the day. We managed it in Sydney 2000 and it did us no harm with gold and bronze medals for Steph Cook and Kate Allenby respectively, and we have made careful plans with Team GB to give us the best possible environment to perform in this time too.

The pointy end of the Olympic campaign...

It may be a bit ironic to be in the French Pyrenees preparing for an Olympic Games that starts in London in only three days,  but Font Romeu has been the HQ for two previous Modern Pentathlon medal winning campaigns in 2004 and 2008, and it continues to be the right choice. Established by the France National Olympic Committee in 1968, the Élysées Baron de Coubertin is the national altitude training centre and a home from home for many top international athletes seeking an ideal climate and top class facilities.

The team has been here a week already and by the tired yet happy faces I saw at fencing free-play this evening, it's clear that a lot of hard work has gone down. The taper to competition begins shortly, but there are no corners to cut when competing at this level and this kind of work rate will count when it matters most.

There's no escaping the fact that we are well and truly at the pointy end of the Olympic campaign, yet if the 2012 season ended tomorrow we would already look back on it as the most successful for Great Britain since 2001. Mhairi Spence’s gold at the world championships in Rome in May along with Samantha Murray's bronze, secured both their places on Team GB, and with two in the top three, winning the team gold with Heather Fell became an inevitable consequence. It says something about the importance of the Olympic Games in an athlete's mind that despite being only the third British athlete ever to win the individual world title, Mhairi's first words after crossing the line were "I'm going to the Olympics". Sometime soon, and regardless of what she achieves in London, she will know she has already achieved a lasting legacy in our sport.

In terms of consistency of performance over the past 18 months our top man, Nick Woodbridge, has been impressive. He goes into his second Games world ranked number 5 having finished in the top 6 at world cups and world championships in 2012 as well as getting onto the podium at our Olympic test event in 2011. He is more than ably supported by Sam Weale who placed 10th four years ago in Beijing and has also been on the podium during this Olympic cycle when he won silver at the 2010 European championships.

Naturally enough, everyone I meet wants to know whether our athletes will win medals in London. Every team leader is asked the same question, and in our case it is particularly difficult to answer. 14 different women achieved podium performances at world cups and major championships in 2012 because of some unique variables that come with our particular multi-sport. Firstly, there's the horses. Picked by random, the athletes have just 20 minutes and five practice fences before jumping a competition round of 12 fences of a maximum 1.20m in height. Specialist riders have often said to me that they would not risk their reputation doing so! If either horse or rider has a bad day at the office, disaster can result and that is equally true of the other factor that comes into play; bringing your best game across all five diverse disciplines on the same day. Clearly, that is what all the training and preparation is for, but it is for this reason that the most commonly heard comment amongst athletes as they look at the competition results is, "if only"...

Allez London 2012!