BEIJING • Two terrible shots made her grimace. One tight swimsuit left her in tears. Twenty fencing losses nearly jolted her to the exits.

On the big stage, Margaux Isaksen resembled a wide-eyed teenager.

The Olympic Training Center resident buckled under pressure in a shaky start and couldn’t recover for a strong enough finish Friday in the women’s modern pentathlon competition at the Beijing Games.

Isaksen, 16, amassed 5,292 points for 21st place in the 36-person event that combines shooting, fencing, swimming, equestrian and running. Former OTC resident Sheila Taormina had 5,304 points for 19th in her third Olympics in three different events.

German Lena Schoneborn won the gold medal with 5,792 points. Britain’s Heather Fell (5,752) claimed silver, and Ukraine’s Victoria Tereshuk (5,672) took bronze.

A pair of 6s – on a 10-point scale – negated three perfect shots for Isaksen in 10-meter air pistol, where competitors aim at bull’s-eyes 10.4 millimeters in diameter, smaller than a dime.

In the 200 freestyle swim, Isaksen finished in 2 minutes, 20.30 seconds, about 4 seconds slower than her average, hampered by a Speedo suit that affected her stroke and limited her mobility.

Isaksen said she wanted to “pack up and go home” midway through epee one touch, her weakest discipline. She went 15-20, losing 312 points on Schoneborn.

By the time Isaksen rewarded her horse with a kiss for helping her to a 10th-place finish in show jumping and completed the 3,000 run in 10:40.41, she had fallen out of contention, way behind the lead pack.

“My first three events were awfully depressing,” said Isaksen, among the youngest of the 596 U.S. athletes in Beijing. “I didn’t really know what to expect.”

At the very least, Isaksen thought she would have a swimsuit that fit.

Instead of wearing her normal suit, she tried the LZR Racer, a slick, high-tech suit made by Speedo. It was the same type of suit Michael Phelps wore in his march to an Olympic-record eight golds.

“I had no blood flow in my arms,” said Isaksen, consoled by Taormina as she broke down crying after her swim. “I took two strokes, and I was like, ‘This is not going to be good.’ I just couldn’t get the turnover.”

Taormina said the suit takes “so long to get on. She was worried she wouldn’t have time after warm-up to get it on. She put it on too soon, and over time, it squished her.”

On 6s that were almost identical shots, Isaksen fired too high and too far left.

“It was my own fault,” she said. “I did it, and it was unfortunate. But it happened.”

In fencing, Isaksen said, “I started off really, really well. Then I got scared because I’m not used to fencing so well. I got excited, and I started to lose focus.”

Isaksen vowed to revamp her approach in fencing and shooting and improve in equestrian, running and swimming before the 2012 London Games.

“I’m not very experienced,” said Isaksen, whose best showing came in March in a runner-up finish at a World Cup in Mexico City. “So much of pentathlon is learning how to mentally compose yourself. I’m going to try to figure out what I need to do.”-CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0256 or brian.gomez@gazettedev.gazette.com. Check out our Olympics blog at gazetteolympics.freedomblogging.com

Henry Cejudo Photo by