TAVISTOCK modern pentathlete Kate Allenby is going for gold!
Kate, who won a bronze medal at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, has now qualified for the Olympic Games in Athens which take place next summer.
She secured her place by winning bronze in an Olympic qualifier, the World Championship in Pesaro, Italy, on Saturday.
Kate, 29, beat her two Great Britain team-mates to take one of just two Olympic places available to each country, not an easy task when they all rank in the world?s top ten for the event.
She said: ?I?m really, really excited to have qualified already, because it took me about eleven months to qualify last time, I kept just missing out on places. So far, there are only four women qualified worldwide and I?m one of them.
?I?m really relieved, I can now focus on next year rather than spend my time worrying about qualifying.
?I want to go out there and do better than last time, of course everybody wants to win a medal ?it?s a great feeling and I?ll be trying my best.?
With the Olympics 12 months away, Kate said she was just enjoying the moment of having qualified. ?When I get back to training I?ll probably think about it more then.?
The World Championship involved three full day pentathlons. Day one was the team event which Kate and her two fellow Great Britain competitors won.
After a rest day she took part in a 69-competitor semi-final before resting again and going on to the final against 31 others. The third place was Kate?s first podium position in a World Championship.
Kate, whose parents live at Middlemoor, said: ?It?s all a matter of the five events, running, shooting, fencing, riding and swimming, all coming together at once, and that?s what happened on Saturday. Nothing went spectacularly well, but I didn?t make any mistakes.
?I collapsed on the finish line of the run, the last event, through absolute exhaustion, but I knew I had done it.
?I went off first in the run, which has a staggered start. My team-mate Georgina Harland started the run 55 seconds behind me, but she overtook people the whole time and was running me down towards the end and that really pushed me on to finish quickly.
?The team side of things is great, it really makes you work and want to get the results. Training together, at the national excellence centre at Bath University, really helps to make you better.
?I love doing the team event, but it does get competitive between us when it comes to the individual.?
Kate, who is funded by the National Lottery, is now taking a break from competitions and will miss the European Championship in five weeks? time.
She plans to keep running and swimming to maintain her fitness levels ready to start official training in September and will attend training camps in Hungary and France in November and January.
In the Sydney Olympics three years ago, Kate and her great Britain team-mate Steph Cook gave Great Britain two places on the winners? rostrum, taking bronze and gold respectively in the modern pentathlete.