Oxford's five star athlete
Hailing from Monmouth in South Wales and studying Physiology at University College, Aly Rowell is one of Oxford's brightest young sports stars.
As well as competing for Great Britain in the combined events of the Modern Pentathlon (MP) Aly has represented Wales in three of the individual sports as well as lacrosse, while also being awarded Blues in cross-country, fencing, shooting, riding, MP and lacrosse. As the number one ranked Under 21 in Britain she is hoping for a good showing at the European Junior Championships in Poland this summer.
How did you first become involved with the Modern Pentathlon?
At the age of seven I began to compete in the four event Pony Club Tetrathlon, but this stops at the age of 21. When I was 14 I wanted to take up a sport that could take me to the Olympics, and so it was quite an obvious choice to add fencing to complete the sports of the Modern Pentathlon.
I first represented GB on the youth team when I was 14, and two years ago I did my first senior international in Cairo. It is my ambition to reach the Olympics in 2008, but each country can only send two athletes, and I am ranked sixth for GB at the moment.
At what level do you compete in the individual events of the MP as separate sports?
I am aiming to represent Wales at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne at Shooting, Fencing and the Modern Pentathlon.
Having a horse at home means most of my weekends are taken up in competitions but also means that I am able to seriously compete in Eventing as a separate sport. I've been riding since I was very young so it is probably my best phase in the Pentathlon, but equally it can be very variable, as in competitions you are riding horses you don't know. I also really enjoy swimming and train and compete a lot both in Oxford and at home.
What is it like having Sydney 2000 Olympic Gold medallist Stephanie Cook and Silver Medallist Emily DeRiel as your predecessors in Oxford?
It is great having them as alumni as it raises the profile of the sport in Oxford and it proves that you don't have to be at the GB training centre at Bath University to compete at the highest level.
Steph was a big influence in terms of me coming to Oxford rather than going to Bath to be nearer the national coaches.
She really persuaded me to come here due to the value of the degree and the standard of coaching, and to train full-time after graduation.
Do you find that training and competing impinges upon your work in Oxford?
It is very hard to reconcile work, sport and the social aspects of life in Oxford so my weeks are very busy. As a lot of my training taking place early in the mornings as well as in the evenings I am just about able to cope, but being away most the weekends does mean that I have to do all my work during the week!
Does the format of the Modern Pentathlon (whereby points are translated to seconds before the running event) make it noticeably different to other multi-events sports?
I think it's a very good thing as you know that you've won when you cross the line first. Equally I think it's very important for spectators and the media as it makes it far more interesting than just watching athletes run around a track not knowing who has won until all the points have been calculated. It's wonderful if you are a good runner, as you can set your sights on the person in front and run up the placings, but can be terribly demoralising if you are a bad runner and start in first place and then end up counting the people going past you!
How do you plan to proceed with your sport and career once you graduate?
Getting a degree from Oxford will set me up for a career afterwards and I would very much like to work in media.
But I will be moving to the national training centre in Bath and begin training full-time for the Pentathlon after graduating next year, and will be hopefully working towards the Olympics in Beijing in 2008. Steph went into medicine almost immediately after Sydney and while obviously I have no concrete plan for 2009, I would love to go into the media, or failing that, this would be where my Physiology degree would come into use!
29th Apr 2004