As legend has it, a young French cavalry officer of the 19th century was sent on horseback to deliver a message. He rode across the uneven terrain, through enemy lines, and was confronted by a soldier with his sword drawn. Challenged to a duel, the officer won, only to have his horse shot out from under him by another enemy soldier. Without a horse, the officer continued on – swimming across a raging river before finally delivering the message. Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics, modeled the event known as the modern pentathlon on this legendary officer. He believed that this combination of events would produce the ideal and complete athlete.
The roots of the sport can be traced back to the ancient pentathlon of the early Olympics, in which participants competed in five different disciplines: discus, javelin, long-jump, running, and wrestling.
The modern pentathlon was recently changed from five events to four (and may have more changes in the near future), combining the shooting and running aspects. The 2012 Olympics in London will be the first to host this new format. In the modern pentathlon participants compete in four separate events that occur in the following order: fencing, swimming, riding and a combined shooting and running finale. Competitors must complete all four events in one day. Participants fence in a series of quick and fast one-touch bouts with the epee sword followed by swimming a 200-meter freestyle. Riding is a 3000-meter run on a cross-country steeplechase course. The competition ends with a 1000-meter run on foot, interrupted three times by target shooting.
Judges award points in the first three events to the competitors, their total determining their start in the final event, the cross-country run. Because of this system, the first participant to cross the finish line wins the gold, and so on. They have yet to determine the new scoring system, wavering between awarding penalty laps for missed shots or just added on minutes.
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