Modern pentathlon is a sport that has to deal with problems. The multi-discipline, which was created according to the Olympic ideal, has always demanded a lot from those involved: a long day for the actors at first, and a lot of puzzles for the spectators. The horses and riders, who do not know each other, were saddled with a considerable risk of injury; and finally the tension experienced some brakes. The pentathlon, if it wanted to survive, had to reform again and again, and it more or less succeeded in doing so.
The format, founded as a variety of elite individual athletes and held for the first time in 1912, later became more and more condensed. The course is now transparent. By combining shooting with a laser pistol and a middle-distance run, several athletes are often still fighting for a place on the podium until the end. This artificially created discipline is used to being reformed, which is why the strongest incision is now being made. The abolition of the third discipline, show jumping.
The images of the games in Tokyo in August 2021 will be remembered by spectators, supervisors and the entire pentathlon community: The German favorite to win Annika Schleu cannot cope with the horse, which stops abruptly several times in front of an obstacle, the situation escalates with the use of the crop – a design flaw of this sport becomes clear. The pentathlon should long ago also be accessible to Olympic amateurs, which is only possible with drawn foreign horses, but due to the lack of a relationship and trust between horse and rider it led to such absurd and dangerous scenes for the animals.
After Tokyo, the world association decided to end pentathlon show jumping, and now a replacement has been found. An obstacle course, only not on four, but – according to reports – on two legs. The athletes are supposed to climb, jump, move in space against time, similar to a military drill course, which requires versatility but could still look like the night before TV show.
But what good does it do? Many players may have felt left out last fall, but the time for horses in the pentathlon is rightly over after the 2024 games in Paris. The pentathlon sport has to reinvent itself again, and the possible new discipline with elements of athletics or movement in space could be accepted more quickly than one might think. Spectators are used to obstacles, both on the pitch and in the history of the sport.