Coyle confident ahead of Modern Pentathlon test

One of the last acts of the 2012 London Olympic Games will be the medal ceremony for the Women's Modern Penathalon on Sunday afternoon and Skryne's Natalya Coyle will hope to bring the curtain down on the most amazing two weeks of her life with a place on the podium. Coyle is not expected to feature amongst the leading contenders for medals, but the progress made by the 21-year-old Meath woman has propelled her into the spotlight and made her one of the poster athletes for Team Ireland during the hugely successful games. And her form also suggests that if she can perform to her optimum then a place in the top three is not beyond her, but just being in London and being the first Irish woman to compete in the event will ensure next Sunday will be a proud day for the Coyle family. Modern pentathlon was introduced at the Stockholm Games in 1912 and featured pistol shooting, fencing, swimming, horse-riding and running. The points system for each event is based on a standard performance earning 1,000 points. The start of the combined run/shoot event is by handicap - in this way, the winner of the whole competition is the first athlete to cross the finish line. Only four years participating in Modern Pentathlon, Coyle says reaching the Olympic Games it's a dream come true. As a young girl, she had started out with Meath Pony Club, participating in tetrathlon - running, swimming, shooting and riding where her coach was Oldcastle-based John Flood. "I was awful at the start, but I really enjoyed it and came through the ranks until I was national champion. I ended up winning the national title three times and an international title when we competed abroad," Coyle recalled. But she wanted more after this, and Eanna Bailey, one of her team mates, introduced her to pentathlon. 'Sure, why not pick up a fifth sport?' she thought, and she took up fencing. "I didn't enjoy it at first, but now it's one of my favourites." Natalya's riding coach is former Irish international showjumper, Comdt John Ledingham, from Bective, while her fencing coach is Marek Makay, who has represented Poland at the Olympics. Dave Malone, Irish Paralympian medallist, is her swimming coach and Lindsay Weedon looks after the running and shooting during a week's training of over 25 hours. "I do eight hours in the pool, about four hours sparring in fencing with three individual half-hour lessons; it varies between four and five running sessions, four shooting sessions and one or two riding sessions, depending on the week. "On top of that, I have two strength and conditioning sessions and regular physio appointments," she said. "I love the feeling you get when you've done a hard session, but that never lasts long as there's usually more sessions that day." Her least favourite part of training is the constant eating and having to be nutritionally aware. "With so many sessions each day, it's something I have to be good at," she said. In Sofia last month, Coyle produced a fabulous all-round performance in the women's final to finish 11th place at the European Championships, showing impressive form ahead of the London 2012 competition. After the European championships, it was off to Rome last week for a training camp in advance of London. Coyle began her qualification campaign in August 2011 with a 20th place finish at the World Cup in London, the Olympic test event. Her qualification hopes were boosted in May of this year when she finished 10th at a World Cup competition and then 21st in the World Cup final in China which secured her place at the games as one of the youngest competitors in the field. "I hadn't really thought about that (being the youngest)," she said. "I'm used to competing against most of the girls who will be in the competition. I guess in terms of the bigger picture, I'm heading to London to gain experience for the next Olympic cycle and hopefully I'll be able to make my mark in Rio in 2016. But obviously, I'll be putting every effort into London," said the Skryne pentathlete.