Chloe Esposito and Ed Fernon look to have qualified Australia two places at the London Olympics and are well placed to provide some strong competition in 2012. Chloe is the daughter of Olympic modern pentathlete Daniel Esposito and her sister Emily competed in pistol shooting at the 2010 Singapore Youth Olympic Games.
Modern pentathlon will take place across three Olympic sports venues. At Olympic Park, fencing will take place at the Handball Arena and swimming will occur at the Aquatics Centre. The riding and combined event will occur at the Olympic equestrian venue, Greenwich Park.
MODERN PENTATHLON FORMAT
At the Olympic Games each modern pentathlon competition (men and then women) are conducted over a single day. The five sports contested are fencing, swimming, riding and combined run/shoot event.
The first event is fencing and each athlete must fence against every other athlete. The next event is a 200m freestyle pool swim. The third event is riding with athletes contesting a 12-jump course. At the end of the jumping, the athletes scores and times are converted into a time handicap. This handicap determines the starting times for the combined run/shoot element – the final event. Athletes are required to shoot at sets of five targets after running several stretches of 1,000m. The first athlete to cross the finish line wins gold.
QUALIFICATION AND SELECTION
Modern pentathlon athletes will qualify for the Olympic Games through the 2011 and 2012 World Championships, 2011 World Cup, continental championships and 2012 World Ranking.
Australian athletes Chloe Esposito and Edward Fernon secured the two Oceania quota places on offer at the Asian/Oceania Championships in China in May 2011. Esposito had an outstanding competition to place eighth overall and be the first Oceania athlete to qualify while Fernon placed 13th in the men’s event securing the second quota place.
Two more Australian athletes, one male and one female will have their final chance to qualify for the London Games in 2012. The athletes will need to either medal at the 2012 World Championships or rely on their world ranking when the final quota places are allocated in June 2012 to make up the 36 men and 36 women fields.
For all the Nomination and Selection documentation click here>>>
AUSTRALIAN OLYMPIC HISTORY
Australia has never won a medal in modern pentathlon, although it came close in Tokyo in 1964 when Peter Macken finished fourth in the individual event and the team of Macken, Don McMiken and Duncan Page placed fifth.
In Athens, Australia had an Olympic gold medallist by the name of Alexander Parygin in its modern pentathlon squad. Parygin had won the event in Atlanta in 1996 whilst representing Kazakhstan. In 2004, Parygin competed for Australia, making a comeback to the sport, but finished 27th.
To read more about Australia’s Olympic modern pentathlon history click here>>>