WHEN Becky Wain lists her aspirations for the next few years, she does so unencumbered by insecurity.
Her mind is not cluttered by concerns and caveats. "All I want is a first in my geology degree, a distinction in my masters, to be a full-time athlete and go to the Olympics," says the modern pentathlete. "That's not too much to ask for, is it?"
Perhaps it is a consequence of the complexity of her sport, the demands of mastering five distinct disciplines so intense that there is scant space to accommodate doubt. Or maybe her youth allows her to see only possibility where a more experienced athlete might identify problems. Regardless, the 21-year-old evaluates her career with the untainted mind of a child, stripping away layers of strife and applying the lacquer of positivity.
It was ever thus. Wain recalls watching the Sydney Olympics as an awestruck nine-year-old, cheering as compatriot Stephanie Cook won the first ever women's modern pentathlon gold medal and vowing to emulate the achievement.
"I thought to myself 'that looks easy because I can already ride, run and swim; all I have to do is learn to shoot and fence a little bit' because that's how you think when you are eight or nine. Easy as that. I suppose it was a kid's mentality of 'why can't I do that?' and I was always brought up to believe that if I worked hard I could do whatever I wanted. Even now, I still think that way about it."
To paint the Monifieth native as a hopeless ingenue would be grossly unfair, though. Her ranking of fourth in the UK, combined with the international acclaim that has greeted her early efforts, mean her sporting dreams are entirely realistic, while her academic ambitions are equally attainable as she completes her final year studying petroleum geology – "basically, looking at rocks and trying to find oil" – at the University of Aberdeen.
Her only difficulty is trying to find the time and money. An invitation to study for a masters is on hold until she can find finance, while the burden of coursework eats in to the hours required to fit in two or three sessions a day in five different disciplines. It might not be a normal student lifestyle, but Wain has grown used to the demands.
"In my first year, I got glandular fever," she explains, the illness having effectively kept her out of competition for two seasons. "I came to university and tried to be a student; I partied and went to all my classes – even the ones at 9am – and I was training to ridiculous times of night, so I was burning the candle at all angles.
"In a way I'm quite glad it happened because it taught me a huge lesson about being organised, managing my time better and that I couldn't just go wild all the time. Now I'm really careful about getting enough sleep – even if that's tough when I'm swimming at 5am having not finished training until 10pm – and I write lists every day and sit down on Sunday to plan my week. I love my life but it's about trying to strike a balance between the different bits."
Much like modern pentathlon itself. A one-day medley of swimming, running, horseriding, shooting and fencing, it was once suggested that only the lack of an exotic backdrop and enticing women in evening gowns separates it from a James Bond romp. Wain, though, would query the glamour involved in rising at 5.30am every Saturday to travel to Huntly for a full day of training during her early years in the sport, a necessity given the lack of clubs around the country. Indeed, despite her early interest it was not until she was 15 before she was able to piece together the various elements and contact pentathlon-scotland.
"It was difficult to get involved because you can't just go along to the local club," she says. "In fact, going up to Huntly every week was madness when you think about it but that's when I started getting serious and it dawned on me that the Olympics could be a real goal. Now I'm on a little mission."
Or not so little, as it happens. The depth of competition among the women in Britain is quite remarkable, to the extent that medalling at the Games is almost easier than earning one of the two qualifying berths. Scotland, especially, has a rich seam of talent, with world champion Mhairi Spence joining Freyja Prentice, Jo Muir and youngster Eilidh Prise – Wain's training partner and current senior UK No.1 – among the elite.
Most of them, however, are based at the national training centre in Bath and enjoy the support that brings, leaving Wain and Prise somewhat out of the loop in the north-east.
"I'm competing for Great Britain with and against athletes who are funded but I don't see myself as any different to them," Wain says. "I'll probably have to move to Bath eventually but being in Aberdeen is the best thing for my education right now. It's hard but I wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't a challenge. All you can do is be the best you can be; I'm just hoping the best I can be is better than everyone else."
* Becky Wain is one of more than 150 athletes to gain support from Winning Students in 2012/13. The programme gives students the platform to perform in their sport and their studies.
www.winningstudents-scotland.ac.uk
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