The modern pentathlon will be reformed after the 2024 Olympics. The UIPM, the international organization behind the sport, has announced that horse riding in the discipline will be replaced by another sport. What sport is not yet recognized.
The modern pentathlon was created by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games, hence the name. The modern pentathlon, in the Olympic program since Helsinki in 1912, was supposed to produce the best athlete combining horseback riding, fencing, swimming, running and pistol shooting.
De Coubertin was inspired by what an ideal French cavalry soldier should do. Details: In riding, the horses are assigned by drawing just twenty minutes before the start rather than riding with their horse – so the rider and the horse are not used to each other.
Over the years, the sport has already been adapted – shooting and laser running are practiced together, biathlon combines cross-country skiing with rifle shooting – and has already been cut short for a day. In the past, the duel alone would take fourteen hours and the entire competition five days. However, this sport attracts fewer viewers and is hardly practiced.
After the games in Paris, the quintet is waiting for its most radical reforms, and the rides are canceled. The change is not unexpected, following the hype at the Tokyo Olympics last summer where German coach Kim Reisner was disqualified. He had provoked pentathlete Annika Schleu to overpower her horse when he refused to jump during a showjumping competition.
A bike test will likely take its place, but no decision has yet been made.
