But for six other female athletes there is still a final barrier to be overcome as the UIPM has selected three pairs from Belarus, Italy and the Ukraine who must compete for the final three places.

Belarus must choose between Tatsiana Yelizarova and Hanna Vasilionak as to who partners their compatriot Anastasia Prokopenko, Italy, whose first selection was Sabrina Crognale, must choose between Claudia Cesarini (pictured above) and Lavinia Bonessio, while the Ukraine, whose first choice is the Beijing Olympic bronze medallist Victoria Tereschuk, must pick either Iryna Khokhlova or Anastasia Spas.

The male athletes who have got the nod, pending the confirmation of their home Olympic committees, are: Dzmitry Meliakh from Belarus, Ondrej Polivka from the Czech Republic, Amro El Geziry from Egypt, Rustim Sabirhouzine from Kazakhstan, Denis Cerkovskis from Latvia, Lukasz Klekot and Szymon Staskiewicz, both Poland.

The female athletes added in the second selection are: Donna Vakalis from Canada, Natalya Coyle from Ireland, Narumi Kurosu from Japan, Gintare Venckauskaite from Lithuania, Katarzyna Wojcik from Poland and Suzanne Stettinius from the United States.

This selection brings the total Olympic field to 36 men and 36 women at the 100th anniversary of Modern Pentathlon at the Olympic Games, with the competition taking place from August 11and 12.

"After a tough, long qualification we feel that the best athletes have been selected and will do the sport of midern pentathlon proud at these historic Games" said UIPM secretary general Joël Bouzou.

"Among them are world number ones, world champions and Olympic champions, so the crowd will see the world's best pentathletes in action at the three Olympic venues: Copper Box for fencing, the Aquatic Centre for swimming and Greenwich Park for riding and the combined event."

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