Chile’s Esteban Bustos competes in the men’s show jumping event of the modern pentathlon at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Palace of Versailles on Friday. The equestrian portion of the Olympic modern pentathlon will end after these Games, replaced by …
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Who doesn’t know the names Simone Biles or Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky or Usain Bolt?
The Summer Olympics feature a plethora of marquee events, but for the most “Olympic” sport of all, you may have to dig a little deeper into your broadcast schedule to find it: the modern pentathlon.
And enjoy it now. That changes after the Paris Olympics.
“It kind of embodies the spirit of the Olympics,” said Phaelen French, a pentathlete on Team USA. “That’s why I found it so captivating.” And for the viewer at home, it may be the spirit at work — the sheer variety of disciplines played out over three days — that makes this Olympic spectacle a must-see.
A version of the pentathlon existed in the ancient Greek Games. It consisted of five events that would be more than at home in today’s athletics competitions: a foot race, javelin and discus throws, and a long jump. A wrestling match rounded out the event. But as early as 1894, two years before the modern Games were revived, the “father of the Olympics” Pierre de Coubertin advocated for an updated version.
Athletes compete in the men’s 200m freestyle individual heats of the modern pentathlon during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Palace of Versailles in Versailles on Friday.
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This “modern” sport differs greatly from its ancient ancestor. Today’s athletes must compete in five rather disparate disciplines: fencing, swimming, show jumping, running and shooting.
At the 2024 Games, the five events will be held over three days. First, an épée event. The second day will feature a 200-meter freestyle swimming event, a show jumping course (performed with an unfamiliar horse that the athletes will only get 20 minutes of practice with), and a fencing event to boot. The final event, on the third day, will be a combined laser race. Think of it as a summer biathlon, where the runners only stop to shoot at their targets.
Although it seems far removed from its ancient cousin, a closer look reveals that the modern pentathlon was designed to serve a similar function.
Just as running, javelin throwing and wrestling were useful to the warrior of old, horsemanship and precision pistol shooting were useful to the modern soldier of the early 20th century. Sandra Heck of the National Institute of Physical Activity and Sports in Luxembourg has written about the social history of the sport. And she points out a clear reason why, after 18 years of Coubertin’s activism, it was at the 1912 Games that the modern pentathlon was contested for the first time.
“These disciplines seemed attractive to a large portion of influential sportsmen because they prepared for a possible war,” Heck said. “They supported the skills and abilities of men who could sustain the duties of war.” Two years later, the Great War began. And during the interwar period, Heck notes, still-simmering tensions kept the sport on the map.
Italy’s Elena Micheli competes in the women’s laser individual event of the modern pentathlon on Saturday at the Château de Versailles in Versailles.
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It was not until the 1952 Helsinki Olympics that a civilian, a Swedish carpenter named Lars Hall, won gold, which was a major victory. Until then, the sport had been played and dominated primarily by military personnel. (George Patton, who competed in 1912, finished 20th out of 32 athletes.)
Today, two members of Team USA are in the Air Force, including French, who has a background in triathlon competition but was familiar with modern pentathlon from her youth in Colorado. “When I was 5 or 6, we went to Colorado Springs for a modern pentathlon and got to see some of the events, and that excitement has always stuck with me,” she says.
Alice Sotero of Italy and Salma Abelmaksoud of Egypt compete in the fencing bonus round of the modern pentathlon at the Paris Olympics.
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Years later, as an adult triathlete looking for ways to compete at a higher level, French remembered that enthusiasm and committed to training for what she calls a “pretty niche” sport. And while she learned to swim faster and fence, she didn’t start from scratch: She had some equestrian experience from her Mountain West upbringing.
Today, the sport is about to change again.
A viral video from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics showing a trainer hitting a horse helped prompt the push to remove the show jumping portion and replace it with an obstacle course, akin to something straight out of the Ninja Warrior series.
However, the sport has changed a lot over its long Olympic history. For starters, laser pistols eventually replaced handguns. Show jumping replaced cross-country in 1988, and the first women’s event took place in 2000. In 2012, organizers combined the running and shooting events, and in 2016, they introduced the concept of a bonus fencing event. However, this recent change is the first time a discipline has been completely dropped.
French, who grew up surrounded by horses, has fond memories of what will soon be just a memory. “I think it’s a very elegant feature of the sport,” she said. “I’ll be sad to see that element go away with that kind of teammate that you have to meet and develop a relationship with quickly.”
Athletes compete in the women’s individual “Laser Run” event on Saturday at the Château de Versailles during the Paris Olympic Games.
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Heck described her own nuanced feelings about change, a struggle between tradition and the contemporary debate over what sports offer society. She nonetheless expressed admiration for athletes and stressed the importance of remembering one’s origins.
“No other sport reflects such diversity and such diversity in the training of its athletes,” she said. “And given its connection to the war period, I think it’s also good to look at it, to remember its birth and to hopefully avoid finding ourselves in circumstances like that.”
