LIKE most British sports fans, Katy Livingston will be keeping her fingers crossed when the International Olympic Committee meet in Singapore on Wednesday.

But, unlike the vast majority of interested observers, the fate of London's bid to host the 2012 Games will not be at the forefront of her mind.

As a member of Great Britain's senior modern pentathlon squad, the Redcar-born 21-year-old has more reason than most to dream of the Olympics coming to the capital.

Yet, if things do not go to plan at the IOC's annual convention, it will not matter if they do. In two days time, Livingston could find she does not have an event to compete in anyway.

As well as voting on which city should host the Games in seven years time, the IOC's 117 members will also be balloted on whether any of the Olympics' 28 sports should be dropped from the current schedule.

Any sport that does not receive more than 50 per cent support will be axed - something that has not happened since polo was ditched in 1936 - and replaced with either golf, rugby sevens, karate, squash or roller sports. Understandably, some of Britain's sporting institutions are starting to get twitchy.

When the vote was last staged, in 2002, IOC president Jacques Rogge proposed abandoning baseball, softball and modern pentathlon.

He was eventually outvoted by the members, but the same three sports are believed to be under the most threat again as the Belgian presses for the inclusion of golf and rugby sevens, and all of the lucrative marketing opportunities that would inevitably follow.

As someone who has devoted the best part of a decade to carving out a career in the modern pentathlon, Livingston is understandably concerned at what could happen this week.

And, while the whole of British sport has been obsessed by London's fate, the possibility of her sport fading from view has been largely overlooked.

"It's been strange because everyone's been talking about London and that's obviously exciting for someone like myself who's hoping to compete in an Olympics in the future," said Livingston, who finished 13th of 38 competitors in her first senior international in Budapest this February.

"I'd love to be wearing a British vest in front of a British crowd and trying to win a gold medal in London.

"But, as a modern pentathlete, there are even bigger things at stake this week. I'd love to compete in an Olympics anywhere and it's strange to think that might be taken away from me.

"We have a world championships, but the Olympics is by far and away the biggest thing that happens in the sport. It's what everything is geared towards and I think a lot of things would have to change if the Olympics was taken away."

Modern pentathlon, which involves competitors shooting, fencing, swimming, showjumping and running in the space of one gruelling day - would continue if things did not go to plan. But, in Britain at least, it would survive as a pale imitation of the sport that has provided three Olympic medals in the last two Games.

At present, the sport's Olympic status entitles it to receive lottery funding and considerable financial support from Sport England. That investment has paid for the construction of a state-of-the-art training centre at the University of Bath and enabled modern pentathletes like Livingston to devote almost all of their time to training and competing worldwide.

Were the IOC to drop the sport from the Olympic Games, that money would disappear overnight.

"It would have a fairly catastrophic effect on our funding," admitted Peter Hart, chief executive of the Modern Pentathlon Association of Great Britain. "I would guess that around 95 per cent of the funding for the sport is entirely reliant on it being in the Olympics.

"We've got a good track record of delivering medals for the British team and, over the years, our success has helped us to gradually build up our funding base.

"That has led to massive improvements in terms of infrastructure and coaching, but they would be unsustainable if the plug was to be pulled.

"There are between 3-5,000 people in the UK taking part in the biathlon on a regular basis, and around 10,000 people taking part in pony club tetrathlons, which is the main entrance point for the modern pentathlon.

"Beyond that, we've got about 200 to 250 people who have converted that interest into competing in fully-blown modern pentathlons. The very best of those are based in Bath and that allows us to train them to the kind of standards needed to compete at the world level.

"But all of that takes money and, without the Olympics, it's difficult to see where that money would come from. Hopefully, though, it won't come to that. Our world governing body has been lobbying hard and we're quietly confident there won't be any changes to the schedule this time around."

A retention of the status quo would be music to the ears of Livingston. After joining Saltburn and Marske Swimming Club at the age of eight, she gradually progressed from biathlons to triathlons before taking part in first modern pentathlon at the age of 16.

Her success on the junior stage led to her combining a sports coaching degree at the University of Bath with an intensive training programme at the sport's national centre and also saw her selected for the British senior squad earlier this year.

She will be competing in a senior international in Athens on Thursday, before setting her sights on a medal in next month's Junior World Championships in Moscow.

"My career is progressing nicely at the moment," she explained. "And I think a lot of that is down to the standard of the facilities and training down here at Bath.

"There are ten of us girls working together and we all help to push each other as much as we can. Training with the likes of Georgina Harland (Olympic bronze medallist) has been a fantastic learning curve.

"I was ninth in the Junior World Championships last year and I desperately want to improve on that this time around. Then I want to get as many senior competitions under my belt as I can.

"Beyond that, you obviously start to look at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. It's going to be hard to make the team - we're only allowed to send two women and Georgina is still going to competing in three years time - but you've got to have something to aim for.

"After that, it could be all about training to try and make the team for a London Games."

It could be - but only if this week's two votes both go well. In a little over 48 hours, Livingston will know if her dream is still alive.