By Mike Rowbottom

Andrey Moiseyev_12-10-12October 12 - Russia has appointed its double Olympic modern pentathlon champion Andrey Moiseyev as caretaker coach to the national team following the huge disappointment of London 2012 where, despite having Moiseyev and world number one Aleksander Lesun in its team, it failed to make the podium.

"We had the best men's team in the sport and failed," said Vyacheslav Aminov, President of the Russian Pentathlon Federation.

"After analysing the results of our poor performances we understood that our athletes were not as fit as they should have been.

"Added to that our preparation system was out of date."

In the wake of that report, every national team coach was sacked and, at the age of 33, the iconic Moiseyev (pictured top) has now been engaged as the Russians look towards the Rio 2016 Olympics.

"I have seen a lot in the sport and now that I've stepped aside I see some things that should be improved," said Moiseyev.

"I want to transfer my experience to the younger athletes.

"I know everyone in the national squad very well, and hope I can be useful to the team."

David Svoboda of the Czech Republic took gold at London 2012, with silver going to China's Zhongrong Cao and bronze to Ádám Marosi of Hungary.

Aleksander Lesun_12-10-12World number one Aleksander Lesun finished fourth in the London 2012 Olympic modern pentathlon event

Lesun finished fourth and Moiseyev seventh.

Meanwhile, Aminov believes there may be more podium places to contest in the sport at future Olympic Games.

"Prince Albert of Monaco is Honorary President of the International Federation for Modern Pentathlon (UIPM) and supports the idea of increasing the number of medals at the Olympics," Aminov said.

"So we hope the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will approve it soon and in Rio there will be more pentathlon disciplines."

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