Britain has high hopes of delivering a gold medal at one of the most endangered Olympic sports — the modern pentathlon.
The event, one of the original sports dating back to the 1896 Games in Athens and which combines horseback riding, swimming, fencing, shooting and running, has survived in the shadow of the International Olympic Committee axe.
But it’s on borrowed time and Britain, who boasted the women’s gold-medal winner in Sydney in 2000 in the shape of Stephanie Cook, are determined to stand on the top of the podium again after the two days of competition on August 26 and 27.
Cook has now retired to concentrate on her career as a doctor, but Kate Allenby, a bronze medallist four years ago, believes the British could bring back two more medals this time around with compatriot Georgina Harland in such good form that she recently took over as the world number one.
”Georgina and I get on really well, we push each other in training and there is every opportunity of getting two medals in the event,” said Allenby, the 1998 World Cup winner, who overcame a shoulder injury to take bronze in Sydney.
In the world championships, in Russia in June, Allenby finished second behind Hungary’s Szusza Voros. Harland came fifth but the British women had the consolation of taking the team prize.
Voros is the pin-up girl of the sport, regularly featured on magazine covers in her home country.
Harland, the European champion, was a reserve in Sydney but hammered home her impressive form with gold at the World Cup final in Athens in December last year.
This year there are 64 competitors in the men’s and women’s event.
The fight for the men’s gold is expected to be between Andreis Zadneprovskis of Lithuania, who won the world title in Russia in June, and world number one Gabor Balogh of Hungary, who was a silver medallist in Sydney.
Edvinas Krungolcas is another Lithuanian tipped for the medal shake-up in the men’s event after making Athens courtesy of winning the European title in 2003.
However, he has been outshone by Zadneprovskis and could only finish 19th at the world event in June.
Adding spice to the contest is Krungolcas’s admission that although he trains with his compatriot they are ”just colleagues, not friends”. — Sapa-AFP