The Modern Pentathlon celebrates its 100th year in the modern Olympic Games.
Showcasing the culturally relevant skills of fencing, swimming (200 meters), show jumping, and running a 3K while stopping for some target practice, it’s hard to believe this event is on the chopping block.
You would think in a world full of reality television shows asking their contestants to perform acts much stranger than show jumping, that the Modern Pentathlon would be the most popular event.
How bad can an event involving swords, horses and guns be?
Okay, now that I’ve written it down, it sounds a little dangerous…but in a bad ass kind of way.
Anyways, considering that each of the individual skills are still considered full fledged Olympic events (and rhythmic gymnastics is allowed to survive…really?), it seems a shame to cast aside this multi-skill event…especially on its 100th birthday.
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More on the Story: London 2012 – Pentathlon
…just for fun:
at the risk of being horribly inappropriate, how about we make this event truly “modern”? Fencing – need to replace that with a drive-by shooting contest – hit the target while tooling past in a hybrid (modern yet ecologically friendly). Show jumping – slam dunking (and we’ll even make it a 9-foot basket to be inclusive). Swimming & 3k – I think you can stay; seems like those skills are still relevant.
Identity crisis solved – modern pentathalon is modern again…
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