London 2012: Mhairi Spence heads modern pentathlon team

Samantha Murray and Mhairi Spence are competing in their first Olympics

World champion Mhairi Spence has been named in a four-strong modern pentathlon team for the Olympics.

She will be joined in the women's team by Samantha Murray, who won bronze at the Rome world championships in May.

In the men's event, Team GB will be represented by world number five Nick Woodbridge and European silver medallist Sam Weale.

"I have every confidence they will deliver inspirational performances," Team GB Chef de Mission Andy Hunt said.

Great Britain's female modern pentathletes have won four medals since the women's event was added to the Olympic programme in 2000 at Sydney, and Hunt hopes that Olympic debutants Spence and Murray and Beijing competitors Woodbridge and Weale will add to that impressive tally.

Stephanie Cooke won Britain's first modern pentathlon gold in Sydney with Kate Allenby claiming bronze. Georgina Harland finished third in Athens four years later and Heather Fell won silver in Beijing in 2008.

"The four athletes selected today have demonstrated their great potential with impressive results at world level over the past twelve months," Hunt said.

"British modern pentathletes have an excellent track record in Olympic competition, winning four medals in the last three Games. We will do everything we can to support them in their quest to win a medal for the fourth consecutive Olympic Games."

Woodbridge, from Shropshire, and Weale, from Somerset, both competed at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

And Woodbridge, who won a bronze at the 2011 World Cup final, hopes that the experience he gained in Beijing will prove beneficial in London.

"I'm in the best shape of my career and I have a lot more experience than four years ago in Beijing," said Woodbridge, currently ranked fifth in the world modern pentathlon rankings.

"I'm aiming to win a medal at this Olympics, like I did in the World Cup final in Greenwich a year ago."