“Ninja warriors” instead of frightened horses, a “hard decision” for the Olympic future: The modern pentathlon finally breaks with the idea of its inventor Pierre de Coubertin. The delegates of the world association UIPM decided to introduce the obstacle course and thus the final end of the controversial show jumping. Juan Antonio Samaranch junior, influential in the pentathlon and in the International Olympic Committee, had previously created a threatening backdrop.
“If we don’t approve that, we have no chance of staying in the games,” said the vice-president from Spain. The German President Klaus Schormann, who has been at the helm of the UIPM for 29 years and despite strong headwinds, agreed: “If we leave the Olympic Games, we will only belong in the Olympic Museum.” The course is “the only answer”. .
69 of the 83 MEPs saw it the same way. With the scandal surrounding the German Annika Schleu at the 2021 Summer Games, show jumping had become intolerable anyway. Schleu had been on course for gold in Tokyo until her drawn horse refused to jump. In tears, she tried to bring the animal back into the course with spurs and whip, the pictures went around the world and triggered horror and severe criticism.
“It’s a hard truth”
From 2024 onwards, only epee fencing and swimming will be part of the classic program that IOC founder de Coubertin had devised. A few years ago, running and shooting became a combined discipline. Now, Obstacle Racing, popularized by the game show Ninja Warrior, is being added to keep the odds at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. So far the pentathlon is not part of it.
“In the last 30 years, three IOC Presidents have told us that our sport is not accessible or universal,” said Schormann: “That’s a hard truth – and it means a hard decision.” With the future in the Olympic program, however is far from assured. “There is no guarantee that we will be successful,” said Samaranch before the vote: “At the moment we are not relevant, we are the last in everything that interests the IOC.”
IOC President Thomas Bach recently stated that the future of the pentathlon also depends on “how the association replaces the equestrian competition”. From the circle of the athletes there was already a strong objection. The interest group Pentathlon United complained that the executive of the world association ignored the majority opinion of the athletes. In a survey by Pentathlon United, among other things, they had spoken out in favor of retaining a discipline from equestrian sports.
