(BEIJING, August 21) -- A tall French school teacher, Amelie Caze, starts as favorite in the Women's Modern Pentathlon on August 22, at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

　　Caze, 23, has earned her favorite's tag the last two seasons, in 2007 and 2008, when she twice won the world championship title, in Berlin and Budapest. She is now ranked No.1 by the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM).

　　One of her stiffest rivals will be Aya Medany of Egypt, a newcomer at 19, but who is already ranked No.2 in the world. At this year's world titles she finished second.

　　Britain always produces some top performers. This year either of their two starters, Katy Livingston or Heather Fell may cause a surprise, as their compatriot, Scottish physician Stephanie Cook, did in 2000. Livingston, 24, came third at this year's world championships and is now ranked No. 4 by the UIPM. Fell, also 24, was placed highly at this year's European and world titles, coming fifth and fourth respectively.

　　The 2004 winner at Athens, Hungarian Zsuzsanna Voros, 31, has had two average seasons and dropped in rankings to 26. However, the flaming-redhead �Cactually Voros means red in Hungarian - who is also three-time world champion from 1999, 2003 and 2004, has enough class to figure in the finish.

　　Others who are ranked highly enough to finish in the medals include Lena Schoneborn of Germany (ranked 3), Laura Asadausakaite of Lithuania (ranked 6) and Xiu Xiu of China, who finished fifth at the 2007 world titles in Berlin.