Have you watched the Pentathlon event in the Olympics? The word PENTATHLON means five competitions in Greek.
Pentathlon is a combination of five different sports competed on a single day by the atheltes. Pentathlon has been an Olympic event for more than 2700 years.
ANCIENT PENTATHLON
The ancient pentathlon before the 19th century had Javelin throw, discuss throw, foot race, long jump, and wrestling that helped the soldiers during war. The picture below is an art from about 450 BC showing the discuss throw and javelin throw.
MODERN PENTATHLON
Modern pentathlon was invented by Pierre de Courbertin who is the father of modern Olympics. The modern pentathlon of today has pistol shooting, fencing, swimming, show jumping and cross country running. During the non Olympic years, a world championship is held.
FENCING
MILITARY PENTATHLON
The military version of pentathlon was created by Captain Henri Debrus, a French Army Soldier. This version has shooting, obstacle running, obstacle swimming, throwing and cross country running. The World Military Pentathlon Championship is organized every year by International Millitary Sports Council. The picture below is the official seal of the International Millitary Sports Council.
Over the period of years, many track and field events and events like equestrian and boxing were among the pentathlon sports. The scoring is done the same way as it was done long time back. The winner of a pentathlon event is determined by the overall scores of the athlete in each individual event. No matter what events were in a pentathlon, the athletes participating in this event must not only have physical strength but moral strength as well.