MODERN pentathlete Jamie Cooke will focus on his fencing skills as he seeks to guarantee his place at the London Olympics next year.

Cooke, who was yesterday named Olympic Athlete of the Year for modern pentathlon, said he wakes up every morning with one thought on his mind – training for London 2012.

He knows he needs to work hard on his fencing – even though his swimming is so good it more than makes up for it.

Cooke, 20, from Cheltenham, won the World Junior Champions in Argentina last month – despite coming out of the earlier fencing round in 29th.

He is now second in the junior rankings, 14th in the senior rankings, and achieved the qualifying standard for London 2012.

He said: "It's been a surreal year.

"If you had told me this time last year I would have qualified for the Olympics and be Junior World Champion, I wouldn't have believed you.

"Everything has gone from strength to strength this year and it's all come together."

Unlike many other athletes, Cooke has to be master of many sports in a five-sport discipline made up of swimming, a run/shoot, fencing and show jumping.

He said: "I come from a swimming background, but the fencing is key for me.

"I am a very young athlete, and am not as experienced as the older athletes who have been doing it for ten to 15 years and fencing is my weakest event.

"I am really focusing on my fencing, and trying to balance the five different sports."

Cooke said he has the skill base for the sport, but the challenge is the discipline.

"Fencing is quite a lot in your head, there is a mental side of things," he said.

"When it goes right, you feel like a god. When it goes badly, it's like a vicious circle going down.

"We've got a couple of fencing camps abroad and it's just a case of trying to bring it all together. But it's a very long process.

"It's very subtle, there are lots of different moves. It's like physical chess – it's about outmanoeuvring your opponent."

Cooke, who developed his swimming skills with Gloucester City Swimming Club, is a different beast in the pool.

But even though he holds the world record for the 200m freestyle in modern pentathlon, he still feels the pressure.

"I get the most nervous before swimming, because there is a lot of expectation on me as people expect me to swim fast," he said.

"Normally I don't have the best fence scores and at the Junior World Championships I came out in 29th position.

"But it does really help going into the pool and wiping the floor with the others and bringing the score back up."

If 2011 saw Cooke deliver more than he expected, 2012 promises more glory with another selection competition in January, then four world cups, a world championships, and the world cup final – all before the Olympics.

Cooke, whose parents now live in Shipton Oliffe after recently moving from the family home in Andoversford, said he was trying to manage his own expectations.

He said: "I am trying to keep my feet on the ground as I am still learning a lot as I am so young.

"Hopefully I will make the Great Britain team, work had in the world cups and the world championships and the jigsaw will come together.

"Everything has been going so well.

"There have been ups and downs with injuries but always that success at the end of it.

"I wake up in the morning and the only thing I want to do is train so I can go to the Olympics.

"That's what every athlete wants to do.

"It's still a long way off in terms of competitions, but it's huge on the horizon."

If Cooke does fulfil his Olympic dream he is clear about who he will have to thank: his former coach at Gloucester City Swimming Club, Graham Brookhouse.

Brookhouse won the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul and encouraged Cooke to take up the modern pentathlon.

Cooke said: "I moved down to Gloucestershire from Lincoln about ten years ago and went to the GL1 leisure centre, which was a bit of a building site.

"I still go back there as the facilities are fantastic. I had so much help from him and I can still ring him when it's going well or badly.

"I wouldn't be here without him."

Cooke said he should find out, unofficially, whether he will compete for Great Britain at the Olympics, shortly after the world championships in May.