Pentathlon

The Pentathlon was an athletic event in the ancient Greek Olympics, which consisted of five different types of competition. The ancient pentathlon, much different from the modern pentathlon) consisted of a race about 200 yds long (called a stadion), the long jump, the discus throw, the javelin throw. Some reports state that the final event is a wrestling match between the two athletes that did the best in the other four events. Still others say that the winner of the stadion was considered the winner of the entire ancient Olympic pentathlon. The ancient pentathlon events were considered good training for battle and the training was considered part of military service. The scoring of the pentathlon was given as total points earned for each event.

Pictures of the ancient pentathlon depict the closeness they felt during the sports games as well as the great competitiveness. They are actually quite interesting to view. A military pentathlon is a competition where they are trained in activities that will benefit them in military service such as shooting, running, swimming and throwing.

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The modern Olympic pentathlon has changed from the ancient pentathlon. Some of the events in a pentathlon now are fencing, pistol shooting, freestyle swimming, show jumping course on horseback, and a cross-country run.

The shooting part of the events is done with a 4.5 mm air pistol. The athlete is in a standing position, shoots at a target 10 metres away, and is allotted 20 shots, with 40 seconds time between each shot. For the fencing, which is round robin, the athlete uses a type of sword and the first to get a scorable hit wins. The swimming portion of the competition is a 200 m freestyle race with each person grouped according to his or her fastest time. The riding involves show jumping over a 350-450 metre course with 12-15 obstacles. The competitors don't get their horses until twenty minutes before the event begins. The running is a 3,000 m cross-country race with each one ranked according to their score from the first four events. The first person to cross the finish line is the overall winner of the pentathlon.

Kristen Otto was the 1988 Olympic women's pentathlon winner in the swimming division and won 6 gold medals. Other great swimmers were Matt Biondi and Janet Evans. D. Idzi, of Poland, was a 1988 Olympic pentathlon winner. For 1976, there was Jack Alexander, pentathlon winner in the team sport.

The women's pentathlon was part of the Olympics from 1964 until 1980. In 1984, it was replaced with the heptathlon. They changed the events from what was used in the ancient pentathlon. The pentathlon events used were shot put, high jump, a hurdling race, a spring and a long jump.