Admiration for the ancient pentathlon was fully shared by the founder of the modem Olympic Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin. He persuaded the Olympic Committee to introduce Modem Pentathlon at the 5th Olympic Games of the modem era in Stockholm, Sweden in 1912.

It was his belief that this event, above all others, "tested an athlete's moral qualities as much as their physical resources and skills, producing thereby the ideal, complete athlete."

The choice of the five diverse and unrelated sports that make up the Modem Pentathlon arose out of a romantic vision of the wild adventures of a liaison officer whose horse is brought down in enemy territory. He defends himself with his pistol and sword, swims across a raging river and finally delivers the message on foot.

Thus the modern pentathlon's five disciplines - show-jumping, shooting, fencing, swimming and cross-country running - were chosen.

De Coubertin knew the event would appeal to the military and he felt it would help foster peace by ensuring the world's soldiers could engage in friendly competition.

Not surprisingly, it was the military who most enthusiastically adopted this new sport with its inherent demands of courage, coordination, physical fitness, self-discipline and flexibility in ever-changing circumstances.

One of such competitor was a young American Lieutenant George Patton from the United States. He took part in the first pentathlon competition in 1912. Patton went on to become world famous during World War II as General George C Patton.

While he enjoyed glory on the battlefield, it eluded Patton at the Olympics. He finished fifth, let down by his lack of skill in the, you guessed it, shooting.

For many years the modem pentathlon was used as part of the final examinations at a number of European military academies until the 1950s, when the International Union of Modern Pentathlon and Biathlon (IUMPB) was founded to conduct annual world championships. At the 1952 Olympics, Lars Hall of Sweden became the first civilian gold medalist in the sport.

Modern pentathlon was originally dominated by the Swedes. Since World War II the Hungarians and the Soviets have become the top countries. Scoring was originally done by a points-for-place system with the lowest score winning, but since 1956 the competition has been scored using points tables for each of the five events.

In the U. S., the Army was entirely responsible for the development of modern pentathletes through its training center at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Civilians were invited to enter the Olympic trials at the center for the first time in 1956.

Today, both men and women, competing separately, complete all five events of the Modem pentathlon in one day. A points system for each event is based on a standard performance earning 1,000 points. The winner is the Pentathlete who has accumulated the most points after the five events and crosses the finish line first.