Modern pentathlon at the 2024 Summer Olympics facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Modern pentathlon at the Games of the Olympiad
Venue	Palace of Versailles Arena Paris Nord (fencing ranking rounds)
Dates	8–11 August 2024
No. of events	2 (1 men, 1 women)
Competitors	72 (36 men and 36 women)
← 2020 2028 →

The modern pentathlon is a special sport at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. It happened from August 8 to 11, 2024. Most of the events took place at the beautiful Palace of Versailles. Only the fencing part started at the Arena Paris Nord. There were two main competitions: one for men and one for women.

In 2021, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said that modern pentathlon might not be in the Olympics after 2024. This was a big deal for the sport. The Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM), which runs the sport, was told to change one of its events. They needed to replace the horse riding part with something new. After thinking about it, the UIPM decided to use obstacle racing instead of horse riding. Because of this change, modern pentathlon was put back into the Olympic Games for 2028 Summer Olympics.

What is Modern Pentathlon?

Modern Pentathlon Park at the Palace of Versailles.

Modern pentathlon is a unique sport with five different challenges. Athletes compete in:

• Pistol shooting
• Épée fencing
• 200-metre freestyle swimming
• Show jumping (horse riding)
• 3.2-kilometre cross-country run

The first three events (fencing, swimming, and show jumping) give athletes points. These points are then turned into a time difference for the last event. The athlete with the most points starts the final event first. Others start a bit later, depending on how many points they are behind. This means the first person to finish the final run is the winner of the whole competition!

Fencing Challenge

Fencing has two parts. First, there's a "round-robin" stage. Here, every athlete fences every other athlete one time. They get points for each win. After that, there's a "bonus round." This is like a mini-tournament where athletes compete one by one. The winner of each small fight gets an extra point and moves on to face the next person. This continues until everyone has had a chance to compete in the bonus round.

Swimming Challenge

The swimming part is a 200-meter freestyle race. Athletes get points based on how fast they swim. The quicker they are, the more points they earn.

Horse Riding Challenge

In the show jumping event, athletes ride a horse they don't know. They have to guide the horse over 12 obstacles. They lose points if the horse knocks down a bar, refuses to jump, or if the rider falls. They also lose points if they take too long. After the 2020 Olympics, some people worried about how the horses were treated. This led to the sport's leaders looking into new ways to do this part of the competition.

Laser-Run: The Final Race

The running and pistol shooting events are combined into one exciting part called the laser-run. This has been done since 2012. Athletes do four rounds of shooting. After each shooting round, they run 800 meters. In the shooting part, they use laser pistols to hit targets 10 meters away. They must hit five targets. If they don't hit them all, they have to wait 50 seconds before they can start running again. There's no extra penalty for missing shots. Since athletes start at different times based on their earlier scores, the first person to cross the finish line wins the entire modern pentathlon!

How Athletes Qualify

Seventy-two athletes get to compete in modern pentathlon at the Olympics. There can be a maximum of two men and two women from any one country. The ways to qualify are the same for both men and women.

The country hosting the Olympics, France, automatically gets one spot. A few other spots are given out by the UIPM later on. Most athletes qualify by doing well in big competitions. For example, the winner of the 2023 UIPM World Cup final gets a spot. Also, top athletes from big events like the 2023 and 2024 UIPM World Championships earn their places. There are also spots for athletes from different parts of the world, like Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

Competition Schedule Overview

The modern pentathlon events take place over several days.

The schedule includes different stages:

• FRR = Fencing Ranking Round (where athletes get their first points)
• RSJ = Riding Show Jumping (the horse riding part)
• FBR = Fencing Bonus Round (the extra fencing fights)
• S = Swimming (the 200-meter race)
• L-R = Laser-Run (the combined shooting and running, which decides the winners!)

Medal Summary

Medal Table

  *   Host nation (France)

Rank	NOC	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Egypt	1	0	0	1
	Hungary	1	0	0	1
3	France*	0	1	0	1
	Japan	0	1	0	1
5	Italy	0	0	1	1
	South Korea	0	0	1	1
Totals (6 entries)		2	2	2	6

Medalists

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's details	Ahmed El-Gendy  Egypt	Taishu Sato  Japan	Giorgio Malan  Italy
Women's details	Michelle Gulyás  Hungary	Élodie Clouvel  France	Seong Seung-min  South Korea

See also

In Spanish: Pentatlón moderno en los Juegos Olímpicos de París 2024 para niños

• Modern pentathlon at the 2023 Pan American Games