The men's individual modern pentathlon was an event contested at the
1956 Summer Olympics
The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, whi ...
in
Melbourne.
It was the ninth appearance of the individual
modern pentathlon
The modern pentathlon is an Olympic sport consisting of fencing (one-touch épée), freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross country running. The event is inspired by the traditional pentathlon held during the anci ...
, which had been featured at every Summer Olympics since 1912. The individual scores were also used for the men's team event.
Competition format
The modern pentathlon consisted of five events. The competition dropped the point-for-place system used in previous Games. The 1956 competition introduced a scoring system in which each of the results of each event was converted to a score, with a par value of 1,000 in each event, and higher scores were desirable.
[Official Report, p. 513.]
* Riding: a
show jumping
Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrianism, equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, Show hunter, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including th ...
competition. The course was 5000 m long, with a time limit of 10 minutes. Riders started with 1000 points; gaining or losing 2.5 points for every second under or over the time limit. They could also lose points through obstacle faults. Negative scores were not possible; the lowest score was 0.
* Fencing: a round-robin, one-touch épée competition. The par score of 1000 points was awarded for 26 victories (winning 75% of the fencer's 35 matches, as 36 competitors remained in the event at this stage). Each victory above or below that number adjusted the score by 37 points.
* Shooting: a
rapid fire pistol
25 meter rapid fire pistol is one of the ISSF shooting events and is shot with .22 LR pistols. The event has been a part of the Olympic program ever since the beginning in 1896, although its rules changed greatly before World War II, after which ...
competition, with 20 shots (each scoring up to 10 points) per competitor. A target score of 195 would give 1000 points; every target point above or below that resulted in a 20-point adjustment.
* Swimming: a 300 m
freestyle swimming competition. The par time was 4 minutes, with every second above or below adjusting the score by 5 points.
* Running: a 4 km race. The par time was 15 minutes, with every second above or below adjusting the score by 3 points.
Results
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Modern pentathlon at the 1956 Summer Olympics - Men's
Modern pentathlon at the 1956 Summer Olympics