Dhe for more than a hundred years Modern pentathlon is to be adapted to the demands of the present with obstacle course racing, extreme obstacle course, instead of show jumping. Since the German participant Annika Schleu at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021 failed to drive a distraught and incorrectly bridled horse over the obstacles despite using spurs and crops, the world association Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM ) a substitute for his traditionally rustic approach to animals.
The announcement that two versions of the new discipline will be tested in competition later this year, alongside fencing, swimming and a combination of running and laser pistol shooting, has provoked protests from the Pentathlon United athletes’ representative body. This accuses the association of a lack of transparency and a lack of involvement of athletes. The decision to choose extreme obstacle course alone from sixty suggestions strengthened her conviction. They call on the International Olympic Committee to intervene.
The Modern Pentathlon is believed to be the creation of Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, and is based on the idea of a soldier smashing through opposing ranks. The competition, which lasted several days when it was introduced at the Olympic Games in Stockholm in 1912 and in which only officers with their own horses took part for the cross-country ride, will have become a 90-minute pentathlon in Paris 2024. Show jumping should only be canceled after the Olympics. A working group at the French National Assembly recommended in April that horses should be given plenty of hay for their well-being, use the whip sparingly, make the obstacles lower and wear a band around the body to protect the animals from spurs.
Extreme obstacle courses such as Strongman and Tough Mudder have enjoyed great popularity among amateur athletes for several years. With escalating walls, climbing frames and crawl spaces, they are reminiscent of courses for military training; Mud slides, water ditches, burning or electrified obstacles serve as entertaining elements.
Modern pentathlon is not yet included in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games calendar. The association’s “New 5th Discipline Working Group” included five marketing experts.
