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Chengdu Update

Posted on Friday, 19th Apr 2013 by Jan Bartu

In the late spring of 2011 we have hosted the complete Chinese Team at the Bath National Training Centre. Not really knowing each other besides competing, after just a day we were able to establish constructive working relationship setting up the schedule, organised fencing sessions and sharing the training business with no hassle what so ever for a month. I am saying this because we have hosted other training partners we could do without. Anyway Chinese Team management were very thankful and invited us to the Bath Fusion Chinese restaurant for a dinner before they were heading back home. When we arrived to Chengdu later that year the first thing they have done was to make sure that we are going to dine with them at a posh classic Sichuan restaurant in downtown. Preferential treatment continues this year with tailored made coffee provided to me by the Chinese Team Leader every morning I walk in to the competition venue, nice and appreciated gesture indeed.

Previously, I have touched on the subject of an athlete’s talent to maintain positive attitude, self-confidence and fighting spirits under duress. When comparing semi-final performances of the British athletes, ability to come back from the stint seems to be defining moment for success. Joe Evans achieved exactly that in the fencing discipline. Together with strong swim he could face challenged of fast shooting Koreans and Chinese in the Combined Event achieving his third appearance in the final stage of the World Cup this year. Joe starts tomorrow at 3 in the morning UK time, good luck!

It was not exactly an ‘easy sail’ for Katy Burke and Rebecca Wain today. Rebecca may return home with a good feeling that she featured in the World Cup Finals stage and delivered respectable performance standard. 

Katy’s struggle to maximise her potential in the Combined Event continues. She improved running phase but shooting is still some distance from ideal. Katy and the coaching team have now opportunity to discuss the way forward. 

We have seen some impressive performances today produced by emerging generation of athletes. Improved riding skills of the Chinese Team, Mexico, Ukraine and Kazakhstan introducing excellent ‘combiners’ and promising Russian Team motivated to make their mark on the international scene. There is definitively no room for complacency in the first year of the Rio Olympic Cycle.


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The Pentathlon was introduced for the first time at the 18th Olympiad in 708 BC, probably by the Spartans as a method of training soldiers. It consisted of running the length of the stadium, jumping, throwing the spear, throwing the discus and wrestling. The Pentathlon held a position of unique importance in the Games and was considered to be the climax, with the winner ranked as "Victor Ludorum”.

Pentathlon GB Staff

The Ancient Games

The Pentathlon was introduced for the first time at the 18th Olympiad in 708 BC, probably by the Spartans as a method of training soldiers. It consisted of running the length of the stadium, jumping, throwing the spear, throwing the discus and wrestling. The Pentathlon held a position of unique importance in the Games and was considered to be the climax, with the winner ranked as "Victor Ludorum”.

Admiration for the ancient Pentathlon was shared by the founder of the Modern Olympic Movement, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who expressed his support for the concept of a Pentathlon most eloquently and forcefully in his Memoires Olympiques, published in 1931. From 1909, he tried to have the event introduced into the Olympic programme and, after two failed attempts, Pentathlon’s moment came at the 14 th session of the International Olympic Committee in Budapest in 1911, when as the Baron stated: "The Holy Ghost of sport illuminated my colleagues and they accepted a competition to which I attach great importance.”

Board of Directors

Olympic Games

From 1912 to 1980 the Olympic Modern Pentathlon competition was held over five days with one event per day. Between 1984 and 1992, experiments with the format of the sport meant that the competition was held over four days with either running and shooting or swimming and shooting on the same day. There were individual medals awarded and Team medals were decided by adding the three individual scores of Team members together.

For the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996, the competition was a one-day event in which 32 men who qualified at pre-Olympic competitions participated. Only individual medals were awarded. In 1998, the UIPM received approval for women to compete in the Sydney 2000 Olympics Games.

In Sydney 2000, 24 men and 24 women competed in the individual competition. For the first time in history, the Pentathlon venues were 96% sold out. Stephanie Cook won the Gold Medal for Great Britain in the Women’s’ Modern Pentathlon.

In Athens 2004, 32 men and 32 women competed in the individual competition.

World Championships

World Championships take place annually for the following age groups: Men, Women, Junior Men and Women, Youth A (boys and girls 17-18 years)

Youth World Championships differ slightly in their format in that they do not include riding. A number of at least 96 Men and Women may compete at the World Championships, having achieved a qualifying standard.

There are three elements to the World Championships:

  • Semi-Finals for the Individual competition;
  • Finals for the Individual competition and
  • The Team Relay competition.