Baseball. Softball. Cricket. Croquet. Golf. Jeu de Paume. Lacrosse. Motor Boating. Pelota Basque. Polo. Rackets. Tug of War. What do these sports have in common? Answer: all have been turfed out of the Olympics in their time.

Today's meeting of the International Olympic Committee's Executive Board in Lausanne will leave another sport with that out-in-the-cold feeling, even though the unlucky choice that will be earmarked for removal by the time of the 2020 Olympics in order to allow in one of new contenders has, in theory at least, the opportunity to fight its corner when the final decision is made in September at the IOC Session in Buenos Aires.

Taekwondo, wrestling, badminton and table tennis are among those sports likely to be particularly jittery in the circumstances. But the sport with the worst of the shakes will be modern pentathlon, which has positively contorted itself in recent years in an effort to become more popular and accessible, first by combining its shooting and running elements into a single finale, and then by changing the shooting pistols to lasers in order to make the sport safer and thus more suitable for youngsters.

David Svoboda of the Czech Republic celebrates his victory in the Modern Pentathlon at the London 2012 Olympics

At each point, the officials of the sport's international governing body, the UIPM, have effectively looked over to the IOC overlords with the unspoken question: Will this do, then?

Now the overlords of the Executive Board are preparing to have their say. And it seems extraordinary, outlandish almost, that they should be contemplating stifling the baby introduced by none other than the founder of the modern Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin.

It was at Coubertin's insistence that the modern pentathlon was introduced to the Olympic Games in 1912, mimicking the pentathlon which had been one of the key elements of the ancient Games which consisted of a foot race, wrestling, the long jump, the javelin and the discus- all skills of an ideal soldier of the time.

Baron Pierre de Coubertin, seated on the left, the founder of the modern Olympics, was also the founder of Modern Pentathlon

 
the visionary Frenchman put together a similar quintet of accomplishments which replicated the skills required of a 19th century cavalry rider behind enemy lines: riding an unfamiliar horse, using a pistol and sword, swimming – and running.

Fifth-placed in the inaugural Olympic modern pentathlon was a 26-year-old  American Army lieutenant who would go on to become famous for his fierce prowess in battle during the Second World War – George S Patton, who as a General drove his men to vital victories in North Africa and Sicily.

Ironically, Patton lost a chance of winning a medal after only managing to finish 21st out of 32 competitors in the shooting. He argued that a shot of his which was deemed to have missed had in fact passed clean through a previously made hole – but was unable to offer evidence of this. Had he won his argument, he would have been Olympic champion.

General George S Patton, the pre-eminent US combat General in the Second World War, was fifth in the 1912 Olympic modern pentathlon - because his shooting let him down

It could be said that Patton's arguments were less than chivalrous, although his stubbornness was a world away from the real shame brought onto the event at the 1976 Games by Boris Onischenko's doctored epee, which registered bogus hits.

However, the intrinsic chivalry of the event was re-emphasised by a turn of events during the modern pentathlon which took place at the 2000 Sydney Games.

Two-times world champion Sebastien Deleign would have been the eventual silver medallist had his team-mate Olivier Clergeau, who was out of the running for a medal, conceded a touch to him in the fencing.

At this point you could argue that the French pair were in a similar position to that in which Chinese, South Korean and Indonesian badminton players found themselves at the London 2012 Games - that is, where the framework of the competition invited them to take advantage by a touch of manipulation.

But whereas the badminton players created a scandal as they tried to lose to each other and thus earn a more favourable draw in the knock-out stages, in Sydney the two Frenchman remained true to the Olympic ideal and fought each other fairly and squarely. The double world champion conceded a touch, and with it 40 points which made the difference between finishing second and finishing fourth. Medal lost; honour gained.


Sven Thofelt , the Swedish winner of the 1928 modern pentathlon at the 1928 Amsterdam Games, was the founder of the Modern Pentathlon Union in 1949, serving as its President for 23 years. When his beloved sport was threatened with exclusion from the Olympics in 1992, Thofelt, then 88, defended it robustly, proclaiming: "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...Riding and fencing are wholly in the head, the body being only an instrument of the mind. Shooting is a test of character and will, of steadiness. Only the swimming and running are wholly physical."

Will today really be the day when the sport exemplifying what de Coubertin described as "real all-round athleticism" will be cast out of the Olympic ring?