The
modern pentathlon is a
sportSport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively. Sports commonly refer to activities where the physical capabilities of the competitor are the sole or primary determinant of the outcome , but the term is also used to include activities such as...
s contest that includes five events: pistol shooting, épée fencing, 200 m
freestyle swimmingFreestyle is an unregulated swimming style used in swimming competitions according to the rules of FINA. The front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a freestyle race, as this style is generally the fastest...
,
show jumpingShow jumping, also known as "stadium jumping" or "jumpers," is a member of a family of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics...
, and a 3 km
cross-country runCross country running is a sport in which runners compete to complete a course over open or rough terrain. The courses used at these events may include grass, mud, woodlands, and water...
. The sport is governed by the
Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (
UIPM), the International Modern Pentathlon Union.
History
The modern pentathlon was invented by the Baron
Pierre de CoubertinPierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin was a French pedagogue and historian, founder of the International Olympic Committee, and considered father of the modern Olympic Games.-Biography:...
, the founder of the
modern Olympic GamesThe Olympic Games are a major international event of summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes compete in a wide variety of events. The Games are currently held every two years, with Summer and Winter Olympic Games alternating. Originally, the ancient Olympic Games were held in...
. The name derives from the Greek
penta- "five" and
-athlon "contest". The addition of
modern to the name distinguished it from the original pentathlon of the
ancient Olympic GamesThe Olympic Games were a series of athletic competitions held for representatives of various city-states of Ancient Greece. Records indicate that they began in 776 BC in Olympia, Greece. They were celebrated until 393 AD. The Games were usually held every four years, or olympiad, as...
, which consisted of the
stadion foot raceThe stadion or stade , was an ancient foot race, part of the Olympic Games and the other Panhellenic Games. It was one of the five major Pentathlon events....
,
wrestlingWrestling is an ancient martial art that uses grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, generally between two people, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...
,
long jumpThe long jump is an athletics event in which athletes combine speed, strength, and agility in an attempt to leap as far from the take-off point as possible....
,
javelinThe javelin throw is a track and field athletics throwing event where the object to be thrown is the javelin, a spear approximately 2.5 meters in length. Javelin is an event of both the men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon.- Rules and Competitions :...
, and
discusThe discus throw is an event in track and field competition, in which an athlete throws a heavy disc — called a discus — in an attempt to mark a farther distance than his or her competitors. It is an ancient sport, as evidenced by the 5th century BC Myron statue, Discobolus...
. As the events of the ancient pentathlon were modeled after the skills of the ideal soldier of that time, Coubertin created the contest to simulate the experience of a 19th century
cavalryCavalry were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback in combat. Cavalry were historically the second oldest and most mobile of the combat arms...
soldier behind enemy lines: he must ride an unfamiliar horse, fight with pistol and sword, swim, and run.
The event was first held at the 1912 Olympic Games, and was won by Swedish athlete
Gösta LilliehöökGustaf Malcolm "Gösta" Lilliehöök was a Swedish modern pentathlete who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics.He won a gold medal in the first contested Modern pentathlon at the Olympic Games in 1912....
. The modern pentathlon has been on the Olympic program continuously since 1912. A team event was added to the Olympic Games
in 1952At the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, two events in modern pentathlon were contested. For the first time, a team event was part of the Olympic program.-Medal summary:-Medal table:...
and discontinued
in 1992The modern pentathlon at the 1992 Summer Olympics was represented by two events : Individual competition and Team competition...
. An event for women was added
in 2000Final results for the modern pentathlon at the 2000 Summer OlympicsThe women's individual match was newly introduced.Men's held September 30. Women's held in October 1.Shooting, held on 6:45 at the Pavilion 2
...
. In non-Olympic years, a World Championship is held, beginning in 1949.
Originally the competition took place over four or five days; however
in 1996-Medal Summary:Individual:Team events were abolished from this convention.-Final Results:...
a one-day format was adopted in an effort to be more audience-friendly. In spite of the event's strong pedigree in the modern Olympics, and its status as the only event created specifically for the modern Olympic Games, its lack of widespread popularity outside
Eastern EuropeEastern Europe is a region lying in the Eastern part of Europe. The term is highly context-dependent and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
has led to calls for its removal from the Olympic Games in recent years. However, a vote by the
IOCThe International Olympic Committee is an organization based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas on 23 June 1894. Its membership consists of the 205 National Olympic Committees....
on July 8, 2005, keeps it in the Olympic program at least until
2012The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXX Olympiad, are due to take place in London, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012...
.
Format
Except for the
fencingFencing is a family of sports and activities that feature armed combat involving cutting, stabbing, or bludgeoning weapons that are directly manipulated by hand, rather than shot, thrown or positioned. Examples include swords, knives, pikes, bayonets, batons, clubs, and similar weapons...
competition, athletes do not directly compete against one another in the five events. Instead, a better absolute performance results in a higher points score; points for each event are combined to give the overall total scores. This is similar to the procedure for the
decathlonThe decathlon is an athletic event consisting of ten track and field events. Events are held over two consecutive days and the winners are determined by the combined performance in all. Performance is judged on a points system in each event, not by the position achieved...
in track and field athletics. However, an innovation was introduced to make the finale of the pentathlon more exciting. The last event is the cross-country run. Competitors are ranked according to their score from the first four disciplines and given different start times, with the leader going first, and other starts staggered by points differential such that the first person to cross the finish line will be the overall points leader and win the pentathlon.
The
fencingFencing is a family of sports and activities that feature armed combat involving cutting, stabbing, or bludgeoning weapons that are directly manipulated by hand, rather than shot, thrown or positioned. Examples include swords, knives, pikes, bayonets, batons, clubs, and similar weapons...
discipline uses the épée. The competition is a
round-robinA round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament is a type of tournament "in which each contestant meets every other contestant in turn". In a single round-robin schedule, each participant plays every other participant once. If each participant plays all others twice, this is frequently called a...
, meaning each competitor will face all the other competitors once. Each match lasts up to one minute; the first fencer to score a hit wins instantly. If neither scores within one minute, both lose the match.
The swimming discipline is a 200 m
freestyleFreestyle is an unregulated swimming style used in swimming competitions according to the rules of FINA. The front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a freestyle race, as this style is generally the fastest...
race. Until the 2000 Olympics, the distance was 300 metres. Competitors are seeded in heats according to their fastest time over the distance.
The riding discipline involves
show jumpingShow jumping, also known as "stadium jumping" or "jumpers," is a member of a family of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics...
over a 350–450 m course with 12 to 15 obstacles. Competitors are paired with horses in a draw 20 minutes before the start of the event.
The shooting discipline involves using a 4.5 mm air pistol in the standing position from 10 metres distance at a stationary target. Until the 2008 rules change, the format was that of the 10 metre air pistol competition: each competitor had 20 shots, with 40 seconds allowed for each shot. In the new format, in each of the three rounds of firing, athletes have to shoot five targets, loading the gun after each shot; they may then resume running. Misses are not penalised, but exceeding a maximum total time of 70 seconds will be.
The running discipline involves a 3 km
cross-countryCross country running is a sport in which runners compete to complete a course over open or rough terrain. The courses used at these events may include grass, mud, woodlands, and water...
race. Until the
2000 OlympicsThe Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 16 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
, the distance was 4000 metres. The interruption of the pistol shooting will alter the format of the race, but not the principle that the overall winner will be the first to cross the finish line.
In November 2008, the UIPM voted to change the format from the start of 2009. The running and shooting disciplines are to be contested in tandem. Athletes will have have three bouts of shooting at five targets each followed by a 1000 m run. This is similar to the
biathlonBiathlon is a term used to describe any sporting event made up of two disciplines. However, biathlon usually refers specifically to the winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting...
at the
Winter Olympic GamesThe Winter Olympic Games is a winter multi-sport event held every four years. They feature winter sports held on snow or ice, such as Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, figure skating, bobsledding and ice hockey. Cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping, and...
, which combines
cross-country skiingCross-country skiing is a winter sport in which participants propel themselves across snow-covered terrain using skis and poles. It is popular in many countries with large snowfields, primarily Northern Europe, Canada, Alaska and the upper midwest United States...
with rifle shooting. However, whereas biathletes carry their rifles while skiing, pentathletes will not carry their pistols while running. The change has been criticized as altering too radically the nature of the skills required. The
New York Times asked whether the name ought to be changed to "tetrathlon" given that two of the five disciplines had been combined into a single event.
See also
- List of Olympic medalists in modern pentathlon
- Modern pentathlon at the Summer Olympics
Modern pentathlon is a sports contest created especially for the Summer Olympic Games by the founder of the modern Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, and was first contested in 1912. Coubertin was inspired by the pentathlon event in Ancient Olympic Games, which was modeled after the skills of the...
- 2008 World Modern Pentathlon Championship
The 2008 World Modern Pentathlon Championship held in Budapest, Hungary from May 29 to June 3. It was the last Olympic qualification event in modern pentathlon before the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.-Results:*Men individual: FROLOV, Ilia...