Jamie Cooke's gunning for modern pentathlon success

Jamie Cooke has refused to get complacent heading into this summer's Games despite being the first modern pentathlete to have met the Olympic selection criteria.

Cooke, 20, achieved the qualifying standard after finishing fourth at the European Championships in July last year, with Nick Woodbridge and Sam Weale also bidding to claim places in the Great Britain team for London 2012.

A maximum of two athletes per gender per nation can compete in the modern pentathlon at the Games, and Cooke's place is not guaranteed as Woodbridge and Weale can still meet the criteria before the British Olympics Association make their decision on the two they select.

"It was a surprise to me and everyone else," Cooke told Standard Sport of his achievement. "[But] obviously there's still a long way to go until the Games - there's still the chances for Nick and Sam to pop up [and achieve the standard as well]."

Cooke broke the modern pentathlon 200m freestyle world record during the European Championships but he played down that feat.

"To break it [the record] was really good," reflected Cooke. "But it's not a world record, it's a modern pentathlon record."

Cooke even says swimming is not his preferred event, despite him peforming best in the pool compared with the combined run-and-shoot, showjumping and fencing, all the events which make up the modern pentathlon.

He said: "I get very nervous with the swimming. I enjoy the riding the most. Swimming is a lot of hard work. Everyone expects a really fast time and sometimes I can't do that."

The fledgling athlete's rise is impressive considering he only began competing in modern pentathlon events in 2007, having previously focused just on swimming in his teens. But Cooke says dedication and good coaching were the reasons he picked up the others sports so quickly.

He said: "Swimming got quite hard and my coach, Graham Brookhouse [who won bronze in the modern pentathlon team event in the 1988 Olympics], said: 'why don't we try fencing, why don't we do a bit of shooting, why don't we do this and that'. And it all started to click.

"I picked up lots of the sports very quickly. And I was incredibly lucky to have the facilities around me. I live in Cheltenham. The national centre of excellence for the juniors is about half an hour down the road. Also Bernie Moss, the national junior coach, is a fantastic shooting coach. I learnt from him. I remember going from school to Hartlebury and me and Bernie were just shooting and shooting and shooting."

Cooke enjoys the challenge of preparing for the multi-sport event. "It's a huge balancing act," he added. "We can do four or five sports a day, including gym, massagers, doctors. It's really good."

Woodbridge, meanwhile, believes his poor showjumping form, which he says beset his display at the European Championships after finishing 26th, is behind him as he continues his bid to achieve the qualifying standard. The next opportunity to achieve that feat is in May at World Championships in Rome, where he must finish in the top three.

"At the European Championships everything went as well as it could have done apart from one event: riding," Woodbridge told Standard Sport. "I had a solid fence, the swim went well, combined [run and shoot] was absolutely fantastic. But the riding I had an absolute nightmare. I picked a horse [Darkland] which, on the day, was throwing in stops.

"There are some horses where, if you can push the right buttons, so to speak, you get it round [the course] fine. Some are easier than others. That's the nature of [modern] pentathlon. You draw it [the horse] out of a hat and you deal with it the best you can. The better riders will deal with the majority of the horses.

"The weaker riders will struggle with more of the horses. It balances out. Sometimes you have those competitions where you just don't click with the horse. You just have to deal with what you have on the day and get it round as best you can. But I'm feeling confident now."

Woodbridge is anxious, though, at the prospect of not qualifying for the Olympics, adding: "It is really difficult. To turn up every day and you're with three guys when only two of you can go. Everyone's wary of it."