The
modern pentathlon
The modern pentathlon is an Olympic sport consisting of fencing (one-touch épée), freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross country running. The event is inspired by the traditional pentathlon held during the anc ...
at the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...
in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
was held from 11 to 12 August 2012. The
men's and
women's
A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardle ...
events each involved 36 athletes.
The venues for the events were the
Copper Box
The Copper Box Arena is a multi-sport venue built for the 2012 Summer Olympics, located in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, England.
Previously known as the Handball Arena, it was renamed because, aside from handball, it hosted moder ...
(fencing), the
Aquatics Centre (swimming), and
Greenwich Park
Greenwich Park is a former hunting park in Greenwich and one of the largest single green spaces in south-east London. One of the Royal Parks of London, and the first to be enclosed (in 1433), it covers , and is part of the Greenwich World Heritag ...
(horse riding and combined running and shooting).
Following the July 2011 modern pentathlon Olympic test event,
UIPM president Klaus Schormann told Olympic news source Around the Rings that transportation was the key issue for the UIPM during the 2012 Olympics. "The transportation is important to get from the swimming and fencing to here in Greenwich Park," he said. "This should be properly organized, for the athletes but also for the spectators as well."
David Svoboda, representing the Czech Republic, won the men's event, and
Laura Asadauskaitė
Laura Asadauskaitė-Zadneprovskienė (born 28 February 1984 in Vilnius) is a Lithuanian modern pentathlete. She won the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and achieved an Olympic record score. Asadauskaitė also competed in three ...
of Lithuania won the women's.
Format
Modern pentathlon contained five events;
pistol shooting
Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms ( firearms and airguns, in forms suc ...
,
épée
The ( or , ), sometimes spelled epee in English, is the largest and heaviest of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. The modern derives from the 19th-century , a weapon which itself derives from the French small sword. This contain ...
fencing
Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, ...
, 200 m
freestyle swimming
Freestyle is a category of swimming competition, defined by the rules of the International Swimming Federation (FINA), in which competitors are subject to a few limited restrictions on their swimming stroke. Freestyle races are the most commo ...
,
show jumping
Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics. Sometimes ...
, and a 3 km
cross-country run.
[
] It was the first Olympic Games in which the running and shooting events were combined; athletes faced three rounds of shooting each followed by a 1 km run. In each of the three rounds of firing, athletes had to shoot five targets, loading the gun after each shot; they were then allowed to resume their running. Misses were not penalised, but exceeding a maximum total time of 70 seconds would result in a penalty.
Pistols were replaced with
laser guns
A laser weapon is a directed-energy weapon based on lasers. After decades of R&D, directed-energy weapons including lasers are still at the experimental stage and it remains to be seen if or when they will be deployed as practical, high-perfo ...
after a successful trial at the
2010 Summer Youth Olympics
The 2010 Summer Youth Olympics ( ta, 2010 கோடைக்கால இளையோர் ஒலிம்பிக் விளையாட்டுக்கள் ms, Sukan Olimpik Belia Musim Panas 2010), officially known as the I Summer ...
in Singapore. The use of laser guns reduced the cost of the shooting section by approximately two-thirds and opened up new venues for the sport because of the increased levels of safety.
Qualification
Thirty-six athletes qualified for each of the two events; a maximum of two athletes per gender may qualify from any nation. Qualification methods were the same for both the men's and women's events.
The host nation
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...
was awarded one qualifying place automatically and two invitational positions would be allocated by the UIPM once the rest of the qualifiers were decided.
[
The first allocation of places to athletes based on competition results occurred between January and August 2011. Five continental championships accounted for 19 places; one from Africa, four from Pan-America, five from Asia, eight from Europe and one from Oceania. The winner of the 2011 World Cup final, which was held in London's Greenwich Park in July as the first official test event ahead of the Games, qualified. The top three placed athletes at the 2011 World Championships in September, which were due to be held in Cairo but were moved to Moscow due to the Egyptian revolution, also qualified.]World Championships
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
in Rome, May 2012 were to be allocated places. The final seven places were to be awarded based on pentathlon's world rankings as of 1 June 2012.[
]
Medalists
Medal summary
Medal table
References
External links
*
*
London 2012 qualification system. ''Pentathlon.org''
*
{{Modern pentathlon at the Summer Olympics
2012 Summer Olympics events
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...
2012 in modern pentathlon
Modern pentathlon competitions in the United Kingdom