Pentathlon at the 2024 Paris Olympics
One Last Ride (Literally)
The Pentathlon was originally designed as a way to test the perfect soldier. What skills does a soldier need? Running, Swimming, Shooting, Fencing, and Horseback Riding. How fun that we have an event that combines all 5! The pentathlon is a charming and quirky Olympic event. There is so much to love, except the horses. The horseback riding portion features athletes trying to ride randomly selected horses. The chaos of someone trying to compete with a horse they’ve never ridden before led to quite the controversy in 2021. An athlete was disqualified for abusing a horse during the competition. If I could change anything about the Olympics, it would be removing all the horse events (sorry Equestrian). It’s just so bizarre that we rely on random horses for a small part of this otherwise exciting event. The good news is the IOC is making changes! Despite protests from athletes, the horseback riding portion of the Pentathlon will be replaced with an “American Ninja Warrior” style obstacle course in 2028. This year will be the “last ride” for the pentathlon as we know it. The action starts on day 13.
The Basics
Modern pentathlon is made up of four events combining five sports:
Riding, with a show jumping course on an unfamiliar horse that the athlete is allocated in a draw just 20 minutes before they compete.
Fencing, which is split into two rounds: a ranking round where each athlete competes against each other athlete in a bout lasting one minute or until the first hit, and a second round based on the results of the first round. The format of the second round is single elimination, with each bout lasting 45 seconds. Points are scored for winning each bout.
Swimming, with a 200m freestyle event.
Running and shooting, with a laser-run where athletes alternate between running and shooting at five targets from a distance of 10m.
The modern pentathlon is divided into two sections. Firstly, athletes score points according to how they rank in the fencing, riding and swimming events, which decide their starting position for the laser run event. Secondly, during the laser-run, athletes start with a delay corresponding to the number of points between them and the leader. The first athlete to cross the finish line in the laser-run wins the gold medal.
Due to the diverse nature of the events involved, modern pentathlon is an extremely demanding sport that pushes athletes to their mental and physical limits and requires an exceptional variety of skills.
The Format
36 athletes enter the men’s and women’s event. A semifinal is used to cut the field down to 18 for the final. In the fencing ranking round, athletes go through a series of quick matchups and score points for winning. The next day, 4 events happen in the span of 2 hours. Athletes get on the horse and complete a jumping course. Then they go through another fencing battle with a chance to earn a bonus point. After they is a 200m swim. The points accumulated from all those determine the start times for the Laser Run. For example, if someone dominates those 3 events, they might get a 20 second head start on the next person in the Laser Run. The Laser Runs is a 3000m race with 4 shooting breaks. During the shooting stops, an athlete has to hit a target 5 times to continue the race. The final follows the same format as the semifinal.
What Countries are Historically Dominant?
Here are the countries with multiple medals since 2008:
#1 Great Britain (2 gold, 2 silver)
#2 Lithuania (1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze)
#3 Russia (2 gold)
#4 Hungary (2 bronze)
This is a diverse sport, with 8 total events since 2008, 16 different countries have won medals.
Schedule
August 8th: M/W Fencing Ranking Round
August 9th: Men’s Semifinal
August 10th: Women’s Semifinal + Men’s Final
August 11th: Women’s Final