‘One day I had a sword put in my hand’

Natalya Coyle, who will be the last Irish athlete to compete in this summer's Olympics, has become the first Irish athlete to qualify for the modern pentathlon.

She set out on her journey yesterday when briefing the press in Trinity College where she is a student.

The 21-year-old from Meath will compete in an event that was tailor-made by Pierre de Coubertin himself for the 1912 Games.