OLYMPICS / Barcelona 1992: Officer class of athlete: Guy Hodgson on Britain's modern pentathlon chances

THE CONCEPT of the modern Olympics was not the only notion floating around in the mind of Baron Pierre de Coubertin. In there with altius, fortius etc, was also the germ of an idea to find the elite among the elite, the leviathan of the officer corps.

To do so he constructed as much a military mission fit for a gentleman as a sport, a commando course of the Edwardian Age. In de Coubertin's imagination - and it was the founder of the Games who campaigned for its inclusion - the modern pentathlon represented an army officer setting off on horseback, then being distracted by pistol and sword skirmishes before swimming and running to deliver his message.

That was the romantic theory. The harsh fact is that the demands of modern scheduling have given the event, which starts today, a rather cockeyed order of fencing, then swimming, shooting, cross-country and riding. And more than one competitor in the past would gladly have turned his pistol on his horse given the pot-luck nature of the way the mounts are handed out.

'The whole event can depend on the rides,' Richard Phelps, Britain's leading competitor, said. 'The horses are drawn by lots and if you get three not so brilliant mounts you can lose more than 300 points on another nation. No one will be confident of their finishing position until they get off their horses.'

The familiarisation period between rider and mount is limited to 20 minutes and six practice jumps. 'It can be a lottery,' he continued. 'Everyone has their own specialist event. If you are a good fencer or runner, you'll always be up there, but in the main most people are within a certain range. The riding is the rogue event. Totally unpredictable.'

The British team, despite their 11th place in the world championships last year, believe the dice set rolling by the showjumping discipline will land them in any position within the top six. The Hungarians and Russians usually provide the supreme modern pentathletes but Britain were third in the team event four years ago and the same trio who won bronze in Seoul - Phelps, Graham Brookhouse and Dominic Mahony - will also be competing in Barcelona.

Phelps, a 31-year-old scrap-metal merchant who comes from from Gloucester, also has ambitions in the individual event. In the Los Angeles Games of 1984 he was fourth, in Seoul he was sixth and two years ago he was fifth in the world championships. His colleague, the team reserve Greg Whyte, describes him as 'one of the great swimmer/runners in the world'.

'If things go right I have a chance,' Phelps said. 'OK, the modern pentathlon gives you the opportunity to excel in five events but it also gives you five chances to mess things up. Things have to go very well.'

Phelps's position in the individual event will have great significance on the team event. 'To get a medal,' Brookhouse says, 'you need your top man in the top five, the second in the top 10 and the third in the top 15. Do that and we're in with a shout.'

How loud that shout is will be determined when the horses are harnessed on Wednesday. Sixteen years ago Jim Fox, Danny Nightingale and Adrian Parker won the team gold for Britain and the present trio are within sight of repeating their success. The officer class of the British Army would expect no less.