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Modern Pentathlon

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The pentathlon, whether modern or ancient, has always been designed as a soldiers' event.

It was introduced to the ancient Olympics in the eighth century BC after the Spartans complained that too many Olympic events favoured civilians and did nothing to reward the skills of the warrior.

In those days the sport was an elimination event featuring five disciplines: discus, spear throwing, long jump, running and wrestling.

The idea was that weaker competitors were progressively eliminated until just two remained to wrestle for the title.

Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the Modern Olympics, obviously liked the idea and was keen to incorporate a similar event in the Games.

He faced only one problem: how to bring the concept of an event for the all-round soldier up to date.

If nothing else, de Coubertin had a fertile imagination. He based the disciplines making up the modern pentathlon on this scenario:

An officer is ordered to deliver an important message. He mounts a horse selected at random and rides it over rough terrain, negotiating a number of obstacles.

Travelling through enemy territory, he is forced to duel with his foes, firstly using his pistol and then his sword.

Eventually the officer's horse is brought down, but such a mishap is not enough to dampen his spirit.

He swims across a raging river then runs cross-country through a wood to successfully complete his mission.

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.

Given that he had invented the sport, the Frenchman rather immodestly declared it would be the one Olympic event to "test a man's moral qualities as much as his physical resources and skills, producing thereby the ideal complete athlete".

Unfortunately, the sport's Olympic history has all too often failed to live up to such lofty ideals.

In Mexico in 1968 Swedish competitor Hans Gunnar Liljeavall secured his place in Olympic history by being disqualified for consuming alcohol during the competition.

Further controversy followed at the following Games in Munich when the sport's governing body banned 14 athletes who were found to have taken tranquillisers, only to see the ban overturned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) because it did not consider the tranquillisers as a banned substance.

Australia has not escaped the unwelcome hand of controversy when it comes to the modern pentathlon.

At the 1988 Games in Seoul, Australian Alex Watson failed a urine test which showed he had excessive levels of caffeine in his system.

Watson was tested during the fencing competition and told the IOC medical commission hearing into the affair that he had drunk 12-15 cups of coffee and two or three cans of Coca-Cola at the venue over the 12 hours of competition.

This did not satisfy the commission, which disqualified him. What followed was one of the more unedifying incidents in Australia's Olympic history.

On being informed of the disqualification, Australian Olympic Federation (AOF) (now the Australian Olympic Committee) chief and Australian team official John Coates gave Watson and his party an hour to leave the Olympic Village.

They were packed onto a plane and sent home to Australia, via Hong Kong.

In his official history of the AOC Australia and the Olympic Games, author Harry Gordon writes: "The drama intensified when Watson left the plane in Hong Kong, flew back to Seoul and gave a news conference in which he claimed that an unnamed Romanian official might have spiked his drink."

Watson was eventually banned for two years, the life ban imposed on him by the AOF having been reduced, and a Senate inquiry subsequently found he had been poorly treated. Watson has always maintained his innocence.

The inquiry accused the AOF of being excessively harsh, and Watson accused both the AOF and the IOC of failing to support him and honouring the principles which underpin the Olympic movement.

But even this kerfuffle pales in comparison with the controversy which surrounded Boris Onishenko at the Montreal Games of 1976.

One of the best modern pentathletes in the world, Onishenko was desperate to win gold in Montreal having won silver in 1972 and been crowned world champion in the lead-up to the 1976 Games.

Instead of glory, Onishenko reaped only shame in Montreal when he was disqualified after he tampered with his epee (sword), causing it to register hits even when none had been scored.

Of course, most Olympic pentathletes managed to avoid controversy.

One such competitor was 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, you guessed it, shooting.