The pentathlon, an athletic event dating to the Ancient Olympics, tests its participants with a variety of disciplines. The challenge of developing the skills necessary to excel at five sports creates one of the more demanding endeavors in athletic competition.
History
The creation of the pentathlon in the eighth century B.C. for the ancient Olympics was motivated by a desire to introduce a soldiers' event to the games, as described on Australian Broadcasting News Online. The Spartans had complained that existing Olympic events favored civilians. Instituting a competition bundling the discus, spear throwing, long jump, running and wrestling played into the skills developed by the warriors of the time.
Modern Pentathlon
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, liked the idea of the pentathlon and the role it played in the ancient games. Introducing a modern version, however, would require a new set of five disciplines, updating the event to reflect the skills of the modern soldier. Consequently, the 1912 Olympics included a pentathlon featuring shooting, fencing, swimming, show-jumping and cross-country running, according to the website Pentathlon.org.
Five Sports
The fencing element of the pentathlon operates as a round robin event with a single touch of the epee deciding each match. Athletes swim 200 m freestyle races conducted in heats to accommodate all of the participants. The equestrian course that the competitors take on involves 15 total jumps over obstacles up to 120 cm in height. 2008 saw the combination of the shooting and running elements. Pentathletes must now run a total of 3,000 m, stopping at intervals over the course to complete a total of 15 shots at targets.
Format
Although a teams competition was part of the early pentathlon at the Olympics, it soon became simplified to an individual event. Additionally, the competition was compressed to fit into a single day beginning in Atlanta in 1996, instead of a multiple-day format. Women were added to the competition beginning with the Sydney Olympics of 2000. Athletes qualify for the Olympics in the pentathlon based on their performance in several designated events in the year preceding the games.
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