Perhaps many people don´t know that the ancient Greeks have created the pentathlon with the basic idea of versatility and that it was the first multisport event in our sport-history. In the beginning of the ancient games only running events were contested until the 18th Olympiad. There, in 708 BC, wrestling and pentathlon was introduced which consisted of running, jumping, two throwing disciplines and the already mentioned wrestling.

It is interesting to note, based on historic sources that the stadium run, discus throw, long jump and javelin throw was only followed by wrestling if none of the competitors could earn three victories from the listed disciplines, therefore fighting it our for the overall title. The Greeks were only interested in the champion.

We´ll list some of the outstanding champions of ancient pentathlon.

The first Olympic Champion was Lampis of Sparta. In the 38th Olympic Games there was a kids pentathlon and that was won also by a Spartan, Euthkles who also won the kids wrestling. Gorgos of Messene won four titles while Philombrotis of Sparta won three consecutive championships. Then Aelius Granianus of Sikyon won twice in addition to winning the running event in full armor as well as the dialuos where athletes ran twice the length of the stadium. Polykrates from Kybirai won twice as a youth in such a manner that he won the first three disciplines thus the deciding wrestling was not needed. It was also him that in two different age categories he won a series of pentathlon championships and the stadium runs sometime during the beginning of the second century.

Few know that pentathlon was part of the Olympic programs for over a thousand years!

Let´s jump in time and look at 1894 when the International Olympic Committee mostly for political reasons elected its first president from Greece, Demetrious Vikelas who was followed within a year by Pierre de Coubertin leading the IOC (Comite International Olimpique) for nearly three decades.

It was him who dreamed of introducing modern pentathlon. This is true even when we know, that the original idea was similar to the ancient games with the versatile sport as the main championship. However, this was later modified. Victor Black from Sweden one of the funding IOC members shared Coubertin´s idea, but suggested newer disciplines adhering to the modern age. Until 1932 this was the order of the events: pistol shooting, swimming, epee fencing, cross – country horse jumping and running.

Already in those early days, the thought of having the competition in one day was evident. Coubertin wrote about it accordingly: "performing the five disciplines should be without interruption, athletes continuing only with enough break to perhaps change gear. Without doubt this we´ll reach"

This article segment is from the Games of Stockholm, published by the German media: "the Swedes have adapted the classic pentathlon from ancient Hellas (Greece), from modern America the "all-around” decathlon and finally they found the modern pentathlon which will be the prestige competition of all Olympic Games to follow and one can only be successful in it if all requirements of modern physical expectations are possessed. In ancient Hellas winning the classical pentathlon was the goal for all those youth who had multi-sport skills; similarly we must create the ideal of the modern age male through modern pentathlon. Modern pentathlon has given new ideals and goals to the sport minded youth´s aspirations."

It would be very long and difficult to explain in detail the development of Modern Pentathlon, (this was done earlier by the Hungarian Pentathlon Federation in its publication the History of Pentathlon which we used to highlight here), therefore we only summarize the past decades in a nutshell.

In chronological order about pentathlon:

• 1911 Modern Pentathlon introduced as a new sport
• 1912 The first Olympic Championships (the winner is Lillienhok of Sweden)
• 1928 Modern Pentathlon International Committee is established
• 1934 The 25 year old Swedish Association organizes its first large scale European competition
• 1948 UIPM – Modern Pentathlon´s international governing body is established
• 1949 UIPM constitution is published and the first World Championships organized
• 1952 The first team competition at the Olympic Games (Gold – Benedek, Kovacsi, Szondy HUN)
• 1965 The first Junior World Championships organized (Gold – Janos Bodnar HUN)
• 1974 The first European Champions Cup organized
• 1978 The first Women´s World Cup organized
• 1981 The first Women´s World Championships organized (Gold – Anne Ahlgren SWE)
• 1987 The first European Championships (Gold – Jozsef Demeter HUN)
• 1989 The first Women´s European Championships (Gold – Dorota Idzi POL)
• 1991 European Pentathlon Union is established
• 1993 The first one-day Pentathlon World
• Championships (Gold – Richard Phelps GBR)
• 1994 The first youth and age categories World Championships
• 1995 The first youth and age categories European Championships
• 1996 The first junior European Championships. Only 32 finalist can compete in the Olympian Games.
• 1997 The first junior women´s European Championships
• 1999 Again the world championships returns to Budapest, "PentathlonIsland" is created on Margit Island on the Danube and a repeat of threegold medals for the Hungarian Men and Hungary's First Women's GoldMedal won by Zsuzsanna Voros. A special feature of the championships is thatall event sites are within a 300-meter radius on the Island.
• 2000: The Olympic program includes the women, (Miss Stephanie Cook GBR, becomesthe first Olympic Champion) and by pre-qualifications, 16 / 16 finalist competesin both genders in Sydney. During the UIPM Congress and elections in Frankfurt,President Klaus Schormann is reelected for another four-year term.
• 2004: The Olympic program for pentathlon is extended to 32 men and 32 womenfinalist. Miss Zsuzsanna Voros wins the gold, a first for Hungary in thewomen's pentathlon.
• 2008: Once again Budapest is the host to the World Championships for Men andWomen, which also serves as the last qualification event for the BeijingOlympic Games. The Olympic program now includes 36 men and 36 women finalist.