By capturing a gold medal at the Modern Pentathlon World Cup third series held in Hungary, Egypt's Aya Medani warms up for a possible third Olympic trip, Ghada Abdel-Kader reports Two-time Olympic pentathlon entrant Aya Medani would like to make it three consecutive Summer Games. The Egyptian champion is getting ready for the feat after capturing a gold medal at the UIPM (Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne) World Cup Series in World Cup #3. German Lena Schoneborn took silver and Great Britain's Mhairi Spence the bronze. Medani and Schoneborn were only four points apart. Medani compiled an overall score of 5,452 points, with 928 in fencing, 1,196 in swimming, 1,200 in combined riding and 2,128 in shooting and running. Schoneborn notched 5,448 points -- 1,000 in fencing, 1,104 in swimming, 1,180 in combined riding and 2,164 in shooting and running. Spence collected 5,404 points: 976 in fencing, 1,172 in swimming, 1,180 in combined riding and 2,076 in shooting and running. Medani told Al-Ahram Weekly how she got ready for the tournament, using her opponent for practice. "I trained for two weeks in Italy with Schoneborn (a gold medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics) as well as other athletes from Germany, Latvia, Italy and Russia." In the men's senior event, the Czech Republic's David Svoboda took gold while Pavlo Tymoshchenko of the Ukraine took silver and Korea's Woojin Hwang the bronze. Egyptian Amr El-Geziri came in 56th place with just 29 points. The tournament was held in Budapest from 5-8 May. Entries were from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Belarus, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, China, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Great Britain, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Korea, Lithuania, Latvia, The Netherlands, Mexico, Russia, Ukraine, the US, Turkey, Spain, Sweden and Slovakia. There are several ways to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics. Athletes either win first place in African championships or reach the final of the 2011 World Cup, be among the top three winners in the 2011 and 2012 World Championship or via the world rankings. Medani has yet to play in the qualifiers for London but "I'm on my way." Medani is readying for the UIPM World Cup finals in London and the World African Senior and Youth Championships to be held in Egypt from 22-24 July, plus the 2011 Senior World Championships in Moscow from 8- 14 September. The UIPM organised five Modern Pentathlon World Cup Series in 2011. The UIPM World Cup #1 was held at Rancho Mirage, in the US from 24-27 February. Due to the revolution in Egypt, Medani was unable to participate. The UIPM World Cup #2 took place in Sassari, Italy, from14-17April. Medani finished 10th with a total 5,236 points -- 1,024 in fencing, 1,204 in swimming, 924 in combined riding and 2,084 in shooting and running. Before the training camp in Germany, Medani was in the UIPM World Cup #2 but injured her leg. "When I went to Germany I underwent physical therapy. The next day, I practiced some swimming and shooting but didn't do well. The equestrian was the main thing that I wanted to train on and in the UIPM World Cup #3 the result was amazing." The UIPM World Cup #3was held in Hungary. The UIPM World Cup #4 will be held in Chengdu, China from 26-29 June. The UIPM World Cup final will take place in London on 9-10 July 2011. UIPM chose the best results of the three championships for each athlete. Only the best 36 men and women athletes from the 2011 World Cup Series qualify for the Olympic Games in London. In the 2004 Olympics Games in Athens, Medani finished in a lowly 28th place. Her total score was 5,452 points, 1,108 in shooting, 181 in fencing, 1,224 in swimming, 976 in riding and 824 in running. In Beijing 2008, Medani finished a more respectable eighth place. Her total score was 5,544 points, 1,144 in shooting, 928 in fencing, 1,292 in swimming, 1,004 in riding and 1,176 in running. Egypt's men's champion El-Geziri came in 32 with a score of 4,688 points, 1,024 in shooting,760 in fencing,1,412 in swimming, 484 in riding and 1,008 in running.
