Modern pentathlon

Modern pentathlon is an Olympic sport discipline in which athletes actively participate in five different events in successive stages and have an order for their realization, so athletes must participate in sports such as fencing, swimming, horseback riding, shooting and a foot race. This now modernized sport is also a symbolic sport of the Olympic Games, since the five Olympic rings of the symbol represent the Olympics, as well as the participation of the five continents of the world, the rings are inspired and based on the five different tests that are included within the modern pentathlon.

Tests

Running, fencing, horse riding, swimming, shooting

What is modern pentathlon?

Modern pentathlon is a sporting discipline practiced during the Olympic Games, which consists of five different athletic events, fencing, swimming, horseback riding, shooting and a foot race. It is the sport symbol of the Olympics as it represents the sports embodied in the rings.

About modern pentathlon

This sports modality consists of athletes having to face five very varied tests. First, a round of fencing classification. The next day, athletes compete in four different events. The first is swimming, then fencing and then they can move on to riding. The classification in these three disciplines marks the order of classification for the combined race and shooting event.

Modern pentathlon history

Formerly the pentathlon was introduced into the Olympic Games during the 18th Olympiad in 708 BC. During that time, winning the pentathlon gave the athlete an important position within the games, making him worthy of the rank of “victor ludorum”, which means game winner. Pierre de Coubertin, decided that it would be good to update this sport discipline bringing it back to the modern world and incorporating it into the Olympic Games. He was in charge of choosing the events that today form it according to the competitions that an athlete had to have, in this way, the modern pentathlon would consist of five different events. The order of the events and the number of days in which the victory is disputed has varied with time.

Modern pentathlon was incorporated into Olympic programs during the Stockholm Games in 1912. At the beginning, only men were taken into account, the women’s competition started during the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000. In 1948, the International Union of Modern Pentathlon was created and has its headquarters in Monaco. In this way, the sport modality was practiced not only in sports games, but also in regular national, continental and international competitions. It is active in more than 115 countries around the world and is even practiced in the Pan American, Central American and Caribbean Games.

Modern pentathlon rules and tests

The tests that make up modern pentathlon are the following:

• Shooting: This is a test which is based on the use of a quick pistol. Each competitor must shoot at 20 targets located in the same position, at a distance of 10 meters, each player has a time limit between each shot of 40 seconds only and must shoot with only one hand. The score they get is: 172 points which in the shot is equivalent to 1,000 for the competition.
• Fencing: In this mode, each pentathlete must fight against the other players using a sword. Each game lasts a maximum of one minute, and the first to touch the opponent wins. If neither succeeds after the minute has elapsed, then both players lose. The score is as follows: 1,000 points are scored by winning 70% of the bouts.
• Swimming: Consists of a 200-meter freestyle Score: The men get 1,000 points with a time of 2 minutes 30 seconds, while in the case of women is with 2 minutes 40 seconds.
• Equestrian: The pentathletes are divided into two different groups according to the results they have obtained to choose the horse with which they will make the test. Each participant consists of twenty minutes to become familiar with the horse that has been assigned. There is a course of 350 to 450 meters with 12 obstacles, including a double, a triple, and a water jump.

As for modern pentathlon score, it starts with 1,100 points and is lost with the penalties as follows:

• 3 points for every second the time limit is exceeded.
• 30 points each time an obstacle is knocked down.
• 30 points for touching the water in the estuary.
• 40 points for refusing. If you refuse three times one obstacle you must go to the next one.
• 60 points for a fall. If the rider or the horse falls twice, the disqualification occurs.