The Pentathlon was the climax of the Games in ancient Greece. Since its appearance at the modern Games, it has undergone a great deal of evolution. The Ancient Pentathlon consisted of running, jumping, javelin and discus throwing, and wrestling. The Modern Pentathlon was introduced by Baron de Coubertin at the Stockholm Games in 1912, comprising pistol shooting, fencing, swimming, equestrian and running.
From 1912 to 1980 the Olympic Modern Pentathlon was held over five days with one event per day. Nowadays, the events – Fencing, Swimming, Equestrian, Combined Event (Running and Shooting) – are held over one day. Since 2009, the running and shooting disciplines started to occur in a combined way.
Fencing
The fencing event is organised as a single pool with electric epee. Each athlete has an assault against every other competitor, with a single touch to decide the winner. Bouts last up to one minute, the winner is the fencer that first touch his opponent.
Swimming
After Fencing competitions, the athletes swim a 200m distance. The pentathletes are placed in series and lanes according to their best time, based on Pentatlon world ranking.
Equestrian
The Equestrian course consists of a 350m to 400m circuit with 12 (twelve) obstacles points, including a double and a triple obstacle. The pentathletes draw the horses in which they will compete 30 minutes before the event. They are not allowed to take their own horses to the competition.
Running/Shooting – Combined event
The leader, after the three previous competitions, start in first place in the combined event, and the other athletes start after him/she, with gaps based in the total of points difference.
The final event is a combination of running and laser shooting. The running discipline occurs along 3.000m, equivalent to 3 laps of 1.000m. In the beginning, the athlete enters his/her Shooting box, aiming to hit a target 10m distant and can give unlimited shots till the time of 70 seconds. After the fifth shot at the target or the time of 70 second has passed, the athlete runs the first 1.000m. He/she will enter his/her box again for a sequence of attempts to hit the target 5 times in two more opportunities: before the it starts the 2.000m and the 3.000.
The competition winner will be the athlete who first cross the finish line, after have ran 3.000m and entered 3 times the shooting box to hit the target 5 times in 70 seconds.
For the London 2012 Olympic Games, the ammunition used in the Shooting competition will be the laser. In order to do so, the transition from the air pistol to the laser has occurred along the year of 2011 in the main international competition as the Pan-American Games and world championship.
