Fell pentathlon push

So many events at the Olympics slip off the radar with so many sports involved in Beijing this summer, many eyes immediately turn to the athletics track or the swimming pool - but amongst the busiest of any participant is one contesting the modern pentathlon.

The more publicised decathlon and heptathlon are the only events that come close to matching the complexities and the gruelling nature of the all-round event - although pentathletes sacrifice just as much, of not more, in their pursuit of Olympic glory.

British athlete Heather Fell is hoping to keep up the recent GB medal run in the event, with Steph Cook the champion in Sydney in 2000 and Georgina Harland grabbing bronze in Athens four years ago.

The modern pentathlon is not the most well-known of sports with a strange combination of the five events of shooting, fencing, swimming, horse riding and cross country running not normally associated with each other.

Many will also not know just how taxing the event is - with all five events being held in the same 12-hour day, culminating in a 3,000 metre run.

Brunel University graduate Fell is one of the hearty few to take up the sport - and she is excelling with silver at the 2007 European Championship in Latvia and a victory in the British leg of the World Cup event at Millfield.

Sacrifice

Fell knows the unbelievable sacrifices and training discipline needed just to take part in the 12-hour ordeal, let alone to bring home the gold, and hopes she has done enough to go close in Beijing.

The 25-year-old says that training is her job, and admits that it can be a lonely existence trying to prepare for the Olympics.

"I am normally in the pool at 5:30 in the morning for a two-hour session, then something again before lunch, maybe a run or a riding lesson, some shooting, or fencing again in the afternoon," said Fell of her hectic training schedule.

"It can get lonely training, because you are doing something full-time whereas the rest of my friends are all getting jobs, into the usual life what you would expect for a mid-20 person.

"I have got that all to come and I guess will sort of be behind.

"But when I am at home I do work on a Friday, 12 till 3 in the local pub. When you are away so much it is really difficult to keep a job and they are very supportive.

"I was working quite a bit when I had no funding and started back into the sport, they were really flexible and gave me the hours to fit in around my training.

"Now I guess it is more of a social thing - they enjoy being associated with me and I enjoy getting away from everything sometimes.

"It is quite a good thing to have a reality check sometimes, even if it is only for a few hours a week."

Going for gold

Fell takes her place in the field of 36 that will battle it out for pentathlon gold on August 22, and the pressure is on with everything being decided in just one day.

The Devon resident won a World Cup event in Cairo this year and is ranked fourth in the world, meaning she has a great chance of making the podium.

"When you wake up in the morning, you know that by the time you go to bed, it will all be over," she added.

"You have just got to concentrate on the event you are doing, then put it behind you.

"If you have done really well, you might start to get a bit excited, or if you have done badly you may be thinking about giving up.

"So you have just got to shut it off and get on with the next one."

With fellow Briton Katy Livingston just behind her in fifth in the world rankings, Fell thinks there is a great chance of a GB medal.

"The world rankings show that both Katy and I can get there, but on the day it also depends on everybody else.

"Previous Olympic results have shown that it is not always people who have been on the top all year who get on the medal podium."

Nick Woodbridge and Sam Weale have become the first men to qualify for the event since 1996, and that means that Great Britain has a full squad of pentathletes for the Beijing bid.