Pentathlon
The idea for the Modern Pentathlon came from a story about a soldier delivering a message. He rode, fought a duel with swords, shot his way free, swam a river and ran. The event is completed in one day by 32 men and women.

For fencing épée swords are used. It is the only portion of the event where a direct opponent is faced. Each competitor fences for one touch on the other in a minute. If neither scores a touch, both are credited with a loss.

A freestyle 200 meter race. Athletes are seeded based on previous times. They race against the clock trying for a time of 2 minutes, 40 seconds. For every tenth of a second above that a point is subtracted and below it a point is added.

Using a 4.5-millimeter air pistol, each person fires 20 shots at 20 targets. The targets are 10 rings with a center circle. The rings have point values ranging from one for the outside ring to 10 for the inside circle. They must shoot the pistol with one hand.

The difference in points between the leader and the other athletes is converted into seconds. The leader runs first, with the others starting from behind by the number of seconds needed to catch the leader. The person who crosses the finish line first grabs the gold.

Random horses are drawn. Each pentathlete gets 20 minutes to become familiar with the horse. There are 12 jumps for the riders to clear, including a double jump, a triple jump and possibly a water jump. They must finish the course within a specific time limit.