Mhairi Spence

Mhairi Spence
Personal information
Nickname(s) "Fencey" Spence[1]
Nationality British
Born (1985-08-31) 31 August 1985
Inverness, Scotland
Residence Bath, Somerset
Height 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight 70 kg (154 lb)
Sport
Country  Great Britain
 Scotland
Sport Modern Pentathlon
Medal record
Women's modern pentathlon
Representing  Great Britain
World Championships
2007 Berlin Relay
2012 Rome Individual
2012 Rome Team
2013 Kaoshiung Team
2006 Guatemala Team
2006 Guatemala Relay
2008 Budapest Team
2008 Budapest Relay
2009 London Team
European Championships
2009 Leipzig Team
2006 Budapest Individual
World Modern Pentathlon Junior Championships
2006 Shanghai Individual
2005 Moscow Individual
Junior European Championships
2006 Torres Vedras Individual
Women's fencing
Commonwealth Fencing Championships
2006 Belfast Epee

Mhairi Spence (born 31 August 1985) is a British modern pentathlete. She has won a series of medals at European and World Championships, but was not selected for the 2008 Summer Olympics by the British team due to the limited number of places available. After considering retiring in 2009, she returned to the sport and in 2012 she won gold medals in both the individual and the team events at the 2012 World Championships, and qualified to be chosen for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Early life

Mhairi Spence was born in Inverness, Scotland, on 31 August 1985.[2] She was a member of the Pony Club at an early age, competing in Tetrathlon from the age of ten. She was inspired to change disciplines by the British athletes competing in women's Modern Pentathlon when it made its début at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.[3] She graduated from the University of Bath with a degree in Coach Education and Sports Development.[4]

Career

After seeing the 2000 Summer Olympics, she began training in fencing so that she could switch disciplines to Modern Pentathlon. After four weeks in the new sport, she won her class at the British Youth Championships.[2] She competed at the 2006 Commonwealth Fencing Championships for Scotland, where she won the bronze medal.[5] Women's Modern Pentathlon features five events, first fencing, then swimming, showjumping, and finally a discipline combining running and pistol shooting.[6] She considers fencing to be her favourite discipline of Modern Pentathlon.[2]

To qualify for an Olympic Games in Modern Pentathlon, athletes must reach a minimum standard. Prior to the 2008 Summer Olympics, Spence met the standard required to qualify for the Games, but as there are only two spots in each team for the sport she wasn't selected for the British team, Heather Fell and Katy Livingston were chosen instead.[7] In 2009 she contemplated retiring from the sport, and returned to the family home in Scotland but following an early morning run in sub-zero temperatures, she decided she still had the passion to compete.[2] She finished 3rd (or Bronze) at the 2011 World Modern Pentathlon World Cup.[8] She finished in eight place at the 2011 World Modern Pentathlon Championships.[7] At the first World Cup event of 2012, held in Charlotte, North Carolina, she took the silver medal in second place. She was leading going into the final event, the run/shoot discipline, but was overtaken by Lena Schoneborn, the reigning Olympic champion.[6]

She entered the 2012 World Modern Pentathlon Championships ranked in 5th place in the world rankings. She achieved the gold medal position coming from 37 seconds behind the leader in the final discipline,[2] becoming the first British woman to win the individual gold at the Pentathlon World Championships since Steph Cook in 2001. That result, combined with the bronze medal won by Samantha Murray and a 15th-place finish by Heather Fell resulted in the three athletes also winning the women's team gold medal as well.[9]

Following her gold medal at the 2012 World Championships, she was considered one of the favourites to be chosen for one of the two spots for the women's Pentathlon in the British team for the 2012 Summer Olympics along with Samantha Murray.[3] Due to her placing at the Championships, she was deemed to have met the minimum standard required to compete at the Games,[10] along with Murray and Freyja Prentice who qualified at the 2011 European Championships.[9] She has described qualifying for an Olympic Games as a lifelong dream, saying "When I think about it I get goosebumps. I feel quite emotional about the idea of hopefully standing on that start line."[3] Prior to the 2012 Summer Olympics, she is ranked 4th in the world, the highest-ranked British athlete.[1] Her selection as part of the British team at the 2012 Games was announced on 8 June.[11]

Personal life

She has an ambition to be the host of the BBC One sports quiz show A Question of Sport.[12] She trains at the University of Bath.[12]

References

Specific
  1. 1 2 "Mhairi Spence". Sport England. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "100 Team GB contenders for London 2012: Mhairi Spence". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 Richards, Giles (26 May 2012). "London 2012: Britain's Mhairi Spence exemplifies the modern era". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
  4. ↑ "Congratulations to Bath alumna Mhairi Spence". University of Bath. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
  5. ↑ "Mhairi Spence – Team GB". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
  6. 1 2 "Mhairi Spence wins World Cup silver in United States". BBC Sport. 12 March 2012. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
  7. 1 2 "Scotland's Mhairi Spence eyes Olympic spot in modern pentathlon after Beijing hell". Daily Record. 31 March 2012. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
  8. ↑ Liew, Jonathan (11 April 2011). "Britains Mhairi Spence clinches bronze at Modern Pentathlon World Cup". Daily Record. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  9. 1 2 Gallagher, Brendan (12 May 2012). "London 2012 Olympics: Mhairi Spence seals Games place after winning gold at the Modern Pentathlon World Championships". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
  10. ↑ "London 2012 Olympic Pentathletes Announced". Pentathlon.org. 1 June 2012. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
  11. ↑ "London 2012: Mhairi Spence heads modern pentathlon team". BBC Sport. 8 June 2012. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
  12. 1 2 Holden, Jim (20 May 2012). "High Five for Mhairi Spence". Daily Express. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
General
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