 Weale has recently been working on improving aspects of his fencing in Paris
Modern pentathlete Sam Weale is set to kick off his countdown to the Olympics at the World Cup in Italy this weekend. Weale missed the year's opening event after surgery on his knees but returns in prime shape for the 2011 season. The aim is to qualify for the London Games and beyond lies the dream of being the first British man to win an individual pentathlon Olympic medal. "It's achievable. I wouldn't be doing the sport for any other reason, so that's my goal," Weale told BBC Sport. History suggests it is a tough target and if times were different the 29-year-old could have been going to his home Olympics doing another sport. With a background in swimming and running the triathlon would have been a natural fit, but when Weale was growing up in Somerset its profile was not what it is today and modern pentathlon was the direction he chose. And now the natural all-rounder across the sport's five events of fencing, swimming, horse riding and the combined element of running and shooting is a flagbearer for its future in this country and is looking to turn history on its head.  | THE BRITISH OLYMPIC GENDER GAP
Britain's men have won two medals at the Olympics in the team event 1988 - Seoul, South Korea
Bronze (Richard Phelps, Dominic Mahony & Graham Brookhouse) 1976 - Montreal, Canada
Gold (Jimmy Fox, Danny Nightingale & Adrian Parker |
Since Richard Phelps won the world title in 1993 the sport has struggled on the men's side at the Olympics with Weale's 10th spot in Beijing the best British result since 1992. It is a record that bears poor comparison to the country's women who have shone since the event was introduced to the Olympic schedule in 2000. Stephanie Cook's Sydney gold sparked a sequence of success that has resulted in Britain winning four medals in three Olympics. The men have won two medals but are yet to claim an individual gong in 22 Olympics dating to 1912. British performance director Jan Bartu throws his arms wide and shrugs his shoulders when asked about the recent gender gap, but then, as you would expect from the sage-like 56-year-old who has won as many Olympic medals as Britain's men put together, he gives a rounded response on the topic. "After the 1994 World Championships the older generation basically retired and there was no structured programme for the men," explained Bartu, who won team silver and individual bronze for Czechoslovakia in 1976. "When I realised what was going on there was already a five-year gap in the process and it's taken almost 10 years to overcome that. "It's amazing how long it takes to create a new generation of athletes, bring them through the system and coach them long enough at the highest levels so they can challenge the best in the sport. "The role model for the men was missing, but I'm hopeful we're getting one now and it's an example of an individual going through the process of 10 years as Sam got involved in the programme in 1998 when I got the job." Weale is comfortable taking on the mantle and is well placed to lead the next generation after winning silver at last year's European Championships. "Stephanie was the impetus to everyone coming through for the women and it just needs someone to be at the top and see that it is achievable," said the Bath-based athlete, who trains at the Pentathlon GB High Performance Centre at the University of Bath. "When I was a youngster it would have been nice to have someone to look up to and spur you on and I'd like to think I'm a positive influence for some of the younger ones now." Weale became the first British man to win an individual European Championship medal last season and a top-eight finish at July's Euros in Medway, Kent and the accompanying Olympic spot it brings is his primary target for the season, with only two British men able to compete in London. Again he will need to turn the natural order on its head as all those places were taken by eastern Europeans ahead of the Beijing Games, where, like the four Olympics before them, all the medals were won by athletes from the far side of where the Iron Curtain once fell. | GB TEAM FOR 2ND WORLD CUP EVENT Sassari, Italy, 14-18 April 2011 Men
Jamie Cooke, Sam Weale, Nick Woodbridge & Nick Zissler Women
Mhairi Spence, Samantha Murray, Katy Livingston & Freya Prentice
Event schedule
Thursday, 14 April: Women's semi-finals
Friday, 15 April: Men's semi-finals
Saturday, 16 April: Women's final
Sunday, 17 April: Men's final
Monday, 18 April: Mixed relay |
And he will have to do it with new laser guns in the concluding combined event of running and shooting, which itself was only incorporated in 2009. But while Weale is unhappy with the second set of changes to the sport in two years it should suit him as it benefits better shooters and makes the previously fiddly procedure of re-loading the pistol obsolete. He said: "It has been pushed through very quickly because they wanted it in London and the sport's under gone two changes in an Olympic period which, to be honest, isn't fair on the athletes. "But you've got to adapt and I've warmed to it. Initially I was, like most athletes, against it. But now I actually enjoy it. "I used to struggle with the loading element and I've been shooting really well so it might actually suit me and you've got to look at it like that, you've got to believe it will suit you." Belief is also the key for Bartu, who hailed his protégé's ability to adapt to the combining of the running and shooting disciplines and feels that positive attitude to change can again help Weale reap rewards, starting in Italy. "With the laser introduction the whole format of the combined event will balance a little differently," the Czech explained. "People will be much closer to each other in the combined event so what it does is have a knock-on effect on the rest of the event. There are skills that will become very important again so you need to be solid in order to stay in the competition when you start for the combined event. "You have to be up there with the best, otherwise it's difficult to catch up and in Sam's case it's more mind games than anything else. "He's got the skill, he has experience and now he needs to believe in himself."
Additional reporting by Ollie Williams
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