“You are the ones saying I am favourite, not me,” she told media as her place in the British Olympic team was confirmed for London. It will be her first  Games, although she did attend Beijing as part of the 2008  Olympic Ambition programme run by the British Olympic Association.

“For the last eighteen months I have just been trying to get into the team,” she said.

Spence admitted she hadn’t looked at the standings before the combined event finale of the World Championships in Rome.

“I had gone into the competition knowing that I needed to win a medal to definitely get on the team.” She said.

She chased down Amelie Caze of France in the closing stages.

“I saw her just ahead as I came out of the final run shoot, and I wasn’t quite sure tactically what to do, when I should overtake her.”

Spence has worked hard to improve her running but is preparing for more pain as she gets ready for London. The cross country course in Greenwich is a testing one with a steep climb towards the Royal Observatory.

“It will push athletes to the limit. Whoever made the course definitely hasn’t done a pentathlon,” she said.

Samantha Murray, world bronze medallist in Rome also makes her debut so there’s no Olympic spot this time for Heather Fell a silver medallist in Beijing.

“When I first came, she had the Olympic medal which was something I wanted, but she gradually just became someone I had to beat  to get the place in the team,“ said Murray

The British selectors have opted for experience in the men’s competition. Sam Weale finished tenth in Beijing but was forced to watch from the sidelines at last years World Cup because of injury.

“It was hard but I am glad I made the effort to come and see the park and the range.”

Although London 2012 Organisers are hoping for a repeat of the sunlit test event, Weale admits he’d be quite happy if the weather took a turn for the worse just as it did during his Olympic competition in Beijing.

Nick Woodbridge took World Cup bronze on the Olympic course last year .

“A lot of it will be the mental side in the combined event , there will be a lot of noise,” he said.

“That will be the most difficult thing to put that to the back of your mind every green light there will be a huge cheer. Earplugs will never block out 20,000 people, but the medal is what I want.”