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Sgt. Samantha Schultz of the USA in the Modern Pentathlon at Tokyo 2020 (licensed CC BY SA by US Army on Flickr)Horses out, bikes in, as modern pentathlon fights to keep Olympic place
Bikes are set to replace horses in modern pentathlon as the sport’s governing body tries to keep its place in the Olympic Games after it became engulfed in negative headlines around the world this summer when a coach for the German team punched a horse that refused to jump.
German athlete Annika Schleu, who had been in the gold medal position prior to the equestrian round, was left in tears when the horse, Saint Boy – randomly assigned to her, as all mounts are in the competition – decided it was not going to co-operate by jumping the fences.
The coach, Kim Raisner, was sent home from the Games, the second fron the German delegation after another coach was caught on camera urging Nikias Arndt during the men’s individual time trial to “catch the camel drivers” – a reference to competitors ahead of him who were from Algeria and Eritrea.
> German Olympic coach behind “camel drivers” racist remark sent home from Tokyo
The sport, based on the skills deemed essential to cavalry officers, was devised by modern Olympic Games founder Baron Pierre de Coubetrtin and made its first appearance at Stockholm in 1912.
It comprises five disciplines – fencing, swimming, show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross-country running.
The pistols used nowadays fire a laser beam rather than live rounds, and in line with a wider narrative surrounding equestrian events at the Olympics, there had been calls for the horseback element to be removed, even before this summer’s debacle.
And over the past decade, the International Olympic Committee has considered dropping the sport, which receives minimal exposure outside the Games, altogether.
The Guardian reports that the executive board of the sport’s governing body, the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) is now recommending that bikes replace horses for Paris 2024 – although some athletes and national federations may oppose the move.
A spokesperson for the UIPM told the Guardian: “I am not able to give you any information right now.”
But in a subsequent statement, the governing body said: “As part of UIPM’s commitment to maintaining a strong, dynamic profile for modern pentathlon, a series of strategic meetings are being held.
“These meetings will include an upcoming call with national federations later this week. The outcome of these meetings will be detailed in a press release to be published on 4 November.”
Both the men’s and women’s individual gold medals in Tokyo went to Team GB athletes, won respectively by Joe Choong and Kate French.
The assignment of horses to riders by lottery in the event has had some on Twitter – including British Cycling head of media, Scott Dougal – wondering whether bicycles may be matched with competitors in the same way, should the predicted change of steed happen.
Very much looking forward to the principle of random "unfamiliar" horse translating to random "unfamiliar" bicycle. https://t.co/Ra0AEYUQNB pic.twitter.com/fNIPKWD5vr
— Scott Dougal (@scottdougal) November 2, 2021
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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22 comments
Is the new format going to be called Post-Modern Pentathlon?
Impressionist Pentathlon
I missed that - presumably it's "speeders" for "horses" then and the sabers will get an upgrade? Still suitable for an officer from a long time ago.
Surely what the shennanigans at this year's Olympics highlighted is that the whole horse based element is a complete lottery, with the winner being determined by who got lucky in the allocation of horses. For that reason alone, it feels like it should be removed and replaced by something where the skill of the athlete is all that matters.
I think swapping to cycling misses a trick. Dispatch riders now ride motorcycles not horses, so why not go to an electric trials bike course (kickstart for the oldies). It would have the same elements - complete a set course against the clock with penalties for foot down. All competitors ride the same brand / sponsor bike so there is no F1 style equipment advantage. Keeps the heritage of the event alive with a nod to our electric future.
With e-bikes, in lieu of horses, already being seriously considered by various militaries, maybe they would fit the bill, whilst also giving a nod to eco-credentials.
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2021/10/07/australia-electric-bikes-recon...
It always annoys me when people assume anything to do with horses, or sailing for that matter, makes it somehow exclusive to people only with large bank accounts, it must be a particular urban mindset adopted from watching period dramas where only the lord of the manor rides a horse.
To stable a horse isnt cheap but you dont have to stable your own horse to ride one, and is it any different to spending money on £200 lycra cycling tops, thousands on new chainsets, tens of thousands on a new ultra lightweight bike made from unobtanium? If it's your passion then how you spend your money is your choice.And ultimately all elite level sport costs lots of money.
This change,whilst it maybe presented in purely animal welfare terms due to the shocking behaviour of one individual,is far more likely to do with the logistics of the sport of needing a pool of suitable horses globally available wherever the competition is taking place and as it doesnt have lots of exposure and big sponsors to pay the stabling, vet bills,quarantine after crossing borders, all of which during an Olympics are at a premium and competing for space with show jumping, it's a change that makes the sport likely alot more sustainable in this form in the longer term.
Speaking as someone who is taking their first tentative steps into sailing I can see how it might certainly help...
A friend of mine likens owning a boat to tearing up £50 notes whilst standing in a cold shower. He also holds that a boat owner has 2 good days - the day he buys the bloody thing, and the day he sells it....
Joking aside, my local dinghy club provides year long access to use club boats, and organised racing every weekend for the princely sum of £80 annually (plus volunteering some muscle for club maintenance)
Once a member of course you get to know people, and then can get to crewing on yachts for no more than the cost of your travel - many skippers also throw in your food for the trip too. So at the risk of contradicting myself, you're right - often if you mention that you like sailing, people make all kinds of assumptions about your background, financial position, and character.
It's not unlike cycling...
Seems a good idea in principle, both in terms of making the event more inclusive and in removing the potential for animal abuse. However, it does seem a) a bit of an overreaction to one coach's filthy behaviour, and b) a bit unfair on those already training for the event, who might have been preparing for their chance for 20 years and are suddenly told they have less than three years to switch from being expert showjumpers to expert time trialists (I assume it would be a TT, though actually given what the event is supposed to simulate an MTB course would maybe be more appropriate). A better approach might have been to announce that 2024 will be the last time horses will be included and make the change after that?
It may be that this trainer's filthy behaviour is the tip of an iceberg of abuses across the board. The horse industry is not one that has horses' welfare at its heart - notwithstanding the genuine care and affection that individual riders may have for horses when under their ownership.
Interesting background to the sport but surely if this was to use the skills of a modern cavalry officer horse should be replaced with tank or armoured car and fencing thrown out completely.
The idea was that the officer is escaping from behind enemy lines. Defeats a captor with the fencing, swims the river, steals a getaway horse (which is why the horse is 'unfamiliar'), and finally runs away firing at the pursuers.
By that token, the new officer should have to nick the bike from outside a railway station.
Ah that makes sense.
I personally can't imagine how selling stolen goods can be considered behaviour becoming an officer, let alone any practical use - I don't remember the scene with Steve McQueen hustling car radios. May be it's in the directors cut....
It took me a minute but I got there in the end 😁
You're there hours sooner than most. Still waiting for the landslide of likes for this quality gag. I can almost hear the cogs turning...
Danny MacAskill nailed on for a medal as the only person to go clear over all the fences?
With a front flip for extra style points.
He'd spend too much time balancing on the jumps though, and bunny hopping from one to the next
Fair point - and he'd have to stop and stare wistfully into the distance for a panaround shot on top of at least one of them.
"It comprises five disciplines – fencing, swimming, show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross-country running."
Show jumping seems completely out of place to me in such a set of events, all the other sports are completely accessible to anybody to reach a high level whereas show jumping would I assume require a much higher financial commitment.
"Modern" pentathlon. This sounds like the most inclusive sport in the world. Make the Olympics humane, leave the horses out. While you're at it, rename China to North Taiwan Olympic Committee.