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!