The mythology behind the modern pentathlon is that a soldier has to delvier a message through enemy territory.

He rides, shoots, fences, swims and runs to get the message through.

The sport appealed to the military and George Patton, the famous US general, was fifth in the inaugural event in 1912.

Patton rode, fenced, swam and ran very well, but his shooting let him down.

Up until 1996, the event was generally held over five days (on occasions four) but faced with its Olympic demise, reinvented itself as a single-day competition.

No British modern pentathlete has ever won the men’s individual title, but Britain won the 1976 team event in unparalleled circumstances.

Soviet Boris Onishchenko was the most inventive cheat in Olympic history. In the fencing, he wired his epee so he could record a hit any time he fancied it.

But he became over-confident and when it was obvious he was scoring without hitting, the weapon was examined and Onishchenko and the Soviet team were disqualified.

The men’s team event was no longer contested after 1992, giving way to the women’s individual event - introduced in 2000 - which suited Britain.

Stephanie Cook won and Kate Allenby was third in the Sydney Games and Georgina Harland was third in Athens.

Technical

The order of the events is shooting, fencing, swimming, riding and running and the base for scoring in all but the riding stage is 1,000 pentathlon points. In shooting, you earn 1,000 points if you score 172 out of 200 and gain or lose points (+/-12 per target) if you do better or worse.

A similar principle applies in all the events. In the final event, the start for each runner is staggered according to their current score. If you are leading by 100 points, you get a start based on that lead, so the first runner home is the overall winner.

The Major Players

The nations that once formed the Soviet Union have dominated the men’s competition.

The last time any medal went elsewhere was in 1984.

Russians Ilia Frolov and Andrei Moiseev are among the favourites this time. Potential stumbling blocks for the British women are Amelie Caze, of France, and Aya Medany, of Egypt.

Beginners' guide

Andrejus Zadneprovskis - A famous Lithuanian competitor. If can pronounce it properly, you will be welcome in any modern pentathlon club. (An-Dray-oos Zadne-provs-kiss).

Useless information

The first Olympic competitor to be disqualified for a doping offence was the Swede

Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall, who had a couple of beers before the shooting in the 1968 team competition.