Women’s individual events are first staged at the Sydney Olympics, with the first gold being claimed by British doctor Stephanie Cook.

Dmitri Svatkovsky of Russia takes the men’s title in Sydney. The freestyle swimming event is fixed at 200 metres, and the running distance switched from 4000 to 3000m.

2000

Daniele Masala of Italy wins Olympic gold at Los Angeles in a competition featuring two important changes. Firstly, the event is compressed into four days, with the shooting scheduled five hours before the final running event. Secondly, a handicapped start based on positions after four events is introduced for the final run, which has previously seen runners departing in random order. This means the first competitor home is the overall winner. The runners’ handicap times depend on how many points they are behind the leader, with three points equalling one second.

Masala starts the run first, just over eight seconds ahead of eventual silver medallist Svante Rasmuson. The Swede catches him with 100m remaining, but stumbles on the soft ground after rounding the final turn and running into a potted plant adorning the course.

1984

Janos Martinek of Hungary takes the Olympic title in Seoul after making up more than nine seconds in his final run within an overall competition that had reverted to the five-day pattern.

1988

Relay is added to Men’s World Championships.

1989

Relay is added to Women’s World Championships.

1991

For the Barcelona Olympics, the International Olympic Committee and UIPM jointly decide on a four-day format which features the often dramatic equestrian event, rather than a time-handicapped run, as the final competition. This order of events had also been used at the 1928 Olympics.

The decision produces its expected drama, as Russia’s Eduard Zenovka, leader after four events, exhibits his less than masterly horsemanship and ends up in bronze medal position behind winner Arkadiusz Skrzypaszek of Poland after falling twice.

1992

Dr H C Klaus Schormann becomes UIPM President.

In Darmstadt, Germany, the UIPM World Championships switch to being a single day of competition, with gold going to Richard Phelps of Britain.

1993

At the UIPM World Championships in Sheffield, the shooting discipline changes from involving firearms with a maximum of bore size of 0.22 calibre and moving targets from 25 metres to a format of firing .177 calibre pellets from an air pistol at a standing target from 10 metres.

1994

The one-day format is introduced at the Atlanta Games and proves highly successful. The competition begins at 7am and concludes more than 12 hours later. Alexander Parygin (Kaz) wins gold after entering the final time-handicapped running event in second place. After original leader Cesare Toraldo fades, gold medal position is taken up by Eduard Zenovka of Russia. Parygin looks destined for silver, throwing up his hands in dismay with 100m remaining, but he finds a final burst of energy to draw level with the Russian, who falls 10 metres from the line.

1996

The UIPM World Championships become a combined event for men and women.

1997

The first UIPM Women’s World Championships are held in London, with the men’s version being hosted by Poland.

1981

Modern Pentathlon returns to Athens for the Olympics after a gap of 2712 years. Andrey Moiseev of Russia takes the men’s Olympic title in Athens, with women’s gold going to Zsuzsanna Voros of Hungary.

2004

Andrey Moiseev of Russia becomes the second man to retain an Olympic title, with Lena Schoneborn of Germany beating Britain’s Heather Fell to gold in the women’s competition.

2008

Shooting and running events are put together into a final Combined Event, with competitors starting in order of their placing in the three previous disciplines.

Previously, shooting had involved using a 4.5mm air pistol in the standing position from 10 metres at a stationary target, with each competitor being allowed 40 seconds for 20 shots. The Combined Event now requires competitors to run three 1000m laps, each prefaced by hitting five targets.

2009

Combined event (running and shooting) and laser pistol introduced into the 1st Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.

The mixed relay event is added to the UIPM World Championships.

2010

Starting with the World Cup event in February, the shooting discipline in senior competition ceases to use air pistols and moves over to laser pistols, which are deemed more environmentally friendly and safer for young competitors.

2011

The UIPM President, Dr h.c. Klaus Schormann, comments: “UIPM is proud and happy, that we could finish our process of modernising our sport in the year 2012 which was our 100-year anniversary of being in the Olympic Games.”

David Svoboda of the Czech Republic takes gold at the London Olympics, while the women’s champion is Laura Asadauskaite of Lithuania.

2012

In January, UIPM proposes a revolutionary new concept for the sport which would see all five events staged in the same arena. “After 15 year of exciting innovations in modern pentathlon I welcome you to our newest concept, the Pentathlon Stadium,” says UIPM President Dr h.c. Klaus Schormann.

"Now a spectator can watch five disciplines in five hours with one ticket from one seat. 

On February 11, in Lausanne, the IOC confirms modern pentathlon’s continuing place as one of the 25 core sports of the Olympic programme until 2020.

The format of the Combined Event changes again to consist of four 800m laps, each prefaced by laser shooting at five targets within a maximum time of 50 seconds. This change is intended to restore importance to the shooting discipline following the 2009 changes.

The Mixed Relay World Series, involving events in the United States, Brazil, China and Hungary followed by a final in Russia, is launched.

2013

A new fencing format, the fencing bonus round, is approved by a huge majority of delegates at the UIPM’s Congress and is planned for the following season.

The bonus round, tested at the 2014 World Cup final and the World Championships, ensures that all competing pentathletes confront each other once more on the fencing piste after the traditional round robin.

The new format offers all athletes the chance to win bonus points to top up their score, while focusing the action on a single piste, creating a more exciting experience for athletes, spectators and broadcasters.

“Again UIPM takes an important step forward for our sport and for the Olympic movement with the approval of this fencing bonus round,” says Dr Klaus Schormann, President of the UIPM, at the end of the 2014 Congress.

UIPM joins the International Paralympic Family and the University Sports Family.

2014

First UIPM Laser-Run World Championships are held in Perpignan, France, combining the two combined elements of running and laser shooting.

2015

Swedish carpenter Lars Hall becomes the first non-military winner of the Olympic modern pentathlon title in Helsinki. He has a lucky break when his allotted horse is found to be lame, and his substitute steed turns out to be the best available. In silver and bronze place are two Hungarians – Gabor Benedek and Istvan Szondy.

Hungary is the first winner of the team event, which was discontinued after the 1992 Barcelona Games.

1952

Baron Pierre de Coubertin, widely credited as the founder of the modern Olympics, succeeds – after two years of effort - in having a version of this ancient highlight incorporated into the new Games. Modern Pentathlon’s moment comes at the 14th session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Budapest when, as the Baron later states: “the Holy Ghost of sport illuminated my colleagues and they accepted a competition to which I attach great importance.”

In its original format, designed to embrace the spirit of its ancient counterpart, modern pentathlon involves shooting with pistols, fencing, swimming freestyle, riding over obstacles on horses assigned by lot, and finishing with a cross-country run.

The basic premise behind the modern pentathlon is of a soldier being ordered to deliver a message. He starts on the back of an unfamiliar horse, but is forced to dismount and fight a duel with swords. He escapes, but is trapped and has to shoot his way out with a pistol. He then swims across a river before completing his mission with a long run through woods.

It was De Coubertin’s belief that it would be this event, above all others, that “tested a man’s moral qualities as much as his physical resources and skills, producing thereby the ideal, complete athlete.”

1911

Modern Pentathlon is introduced at the 5th Olympiad in Stockholm.

From 1912 to 1996 the event is held over five days at the Olympics, apart from the Games of 1920, 1984 and 1992, when it takes place over four days.

Between 1912 and 1952 at the Olympics, scoring is based on an athlete’s placing in each of the five events.

Home athletes sweep the medals at the Stockholm Games, with gold going to Gustav Lilliehook. In fifth place is a 26-year-old US Army lieutenant – and later celebrated World War Two Lieutenant Colonel - George S Patton Jnr.

1912

Sweden’s Gustaf Dyrssen leads another clean sweep of medals for his country at the Antwerp Olympics.

1920

The Swedish modern pentathlon tradition is maintained at the Paris Games, with gold going to Bo Lindman.

1924

Sven Thofelt, who is to play a major part in the sport in subsequent years, maintains Sweden’s winning tradition at the Amsterdam Olympics, although Helmuth Kahl of Germany becomes the first non-Swede to take a modern pentathlon medal in finishing third behind defending champion Lindman.

1928

The Swedish run of Olympic victory is maintained by Johan Oxenstierna in Los Angeles despite his being threatened with arrest before the competition as he practised shooting in the woods.

1932

Germany’s Gotthardt Handrick breaks the Swedish succession with victory in his home Olympics in Berlin, with Charles Leonard of the United States and Silvano Abba of Italy claiming silver and gold. US competitor Charles Leonard becomes the first in the event’s history to achieve a perfect score of 200 in the shooting.

1936

Captain Willie Grut returns Sweden to the top of the podium at the London Olympics with the most decisive victory yet seen in the event, winning three of the five disciplines. Six months earlier, Grut had finished second at the Winter Olympics in St Moritz in a demonstration event called the “winter pentathlon” involving downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, shooting, fencing and an equestrian course.

1948

Sven Thofelt founds the Union International de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) and will serve as its President for 23 years. Defending his sport’s right to remain in the Olympics in 1992, the 88-year-old Thofelt comments: “The sport is an education in itself. It trains the mind as much as the body, and should be experienced by all leaders of men…”

The first UIPM World Championships are held in Stockholm.

1949

The Pentathlon (consisting of running the length of the stadium, jumping, throwing the spear, throwing the discus and wrestling) is introduced for the first time at the 18th Olympiad in 708 BC and subsequently holds a position of unique importance in the Games. For more than 900 years, the event is regarded as the climax of the Games, with the winner taking on the title of “Victor Ludorum” (Winner of the Games). Lampis of Sparta is the first winner.

708 BC

From 1956 onwards, the event is scored like the decathlon in athletics, with a set of charts assigning a points total to each performance.

Lars Hall becomes the first man to retain the Olympic title, despite not finishing first in any of the events in Melbourne.

1956

Ferenc Nemeth becomes the first Hungarian winner of the Olympic title, with fellow countryman Imre Nagy second in Rome.

1960

Hungary’s hold on the title is maintained in Tokyo by Ferenc Torok, later elected a member of parliament in Hungary’s post-Communist government.

1964

Sweden regains golden Olympic position through 24-year-old economics student Bjorn Fern, who reportedly keeps himself occupied during the 12-hour fencing competition in Mexico by reading detective stories.

1968

Five-times world champion Andras Balczo, silver medallist at the 1968 Mexico Games, finally wins an individual Olympic gold aged 36, running himself virtually to a standstill in the concluding event to move up from joint third place.

1972

Poland’s Janusz Pyciak-Peciak produces an even more dramatic flourish than that of Balczo in the final event to move from fifth to first place at the Montreal Games.

In the team event, gold goes to Britain after the Soviet Union are disqualified when it is discovered that Boris Onischenko, the 1972 individual silver medallist, has rigged his epee to register hits via a concealed electric device.

1976

Women are admitted on a trial basis at the UIPM World Championships.

1977

Anatoly Starostin earns home victory at the Moscow Olympics.

1980