Oddrun Hokland, Dianne Gerace, Irina Press, Ulla Flegel 1964

In the

sport of athletics Athletics is a group of sporting events that involves competitive running, jumping, throwing sports, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and racewalking ...

pentathlon A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) ( gr, πένταθλον). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of t ...

s have taken various forms over the history of the sport, typically incorporating five track and field events. The only version of the event to remain at a high level of contemporary competition is the women's indoor pentathlon, which is present on the programme for the World Athletics Indoor Championships.

Olympic athletics pentathlon

The athletics pentathlon featured on the Olympic Games schedule in two separate periods. During the early history of the event, an Olympic men's pentathlon was held and was present at the 1912, 1920 and 1924 games. The men's event was dropped, with the

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...

becoming the international standard. As women's events increasingly were contested internationally, the women's outdoor pentathlon was added and held for five straight editions from 1964 to 1980. The women's heptathlon superseded that event at international level in the early 1980s.

Women's pentathlon

The International Women's Sports Federation was established in 1921 and the first reported women's pentathlon was in the

1922 Women's Olympiad The 1922 Women's Olympiad ( and ) was the secondMonte Carlo. The events were 60 m, 300 m, high jump, two-hand javelin, and two-hand shot. In the late 1920s, the events were: shot and long jump on the first day, and 100 m, high jump, and javelin on the second day. The first world record recognised by the

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

was set at the

1934 Women's World Games The 1934 Women's World Games (french: 4è Jeux Féminins Mondiaux) were the fourth edition of the international games for women. The tournament was held between 9–11 August at the White City Stadium in London, United Kingdom.

by Gisela Mauermayer. Prior to Olympic incorporation, the women's pentathlon featured at the AAA Championships, USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships and the

Soviet Athletics Championships The Soviet Athletics Championships (russian: link=no, Чемпионат СССР по лёгкой атлетике) was an annual outdoor track and field competition organised by the Soviet Athletics Federation, which served as the Soviet natio ...

from the 1950s onwards.

Youth athletics

The outdoor pentathlon is in common usage at lower age categories of the sport, allowing for easier training and event scheduling, and avoiding over-training of young athletes. For example, the lower division of the English Schools Combined Events Championships has pentathlons for both boys and girls. In

high school athletics Amateur sports are sports in which participants engage largely or entirely without remuneration. The distinction is made between amateur sporting participants and professional sports, professional sporting participants, who are paid for the time ...

in North America, boys' and girls' pentathlons are held, consisting of the sprint hurdles, long jump, shot put, high jump, and an 800 m run ( 1500 m run for men). The pentathlon is used because it is less stressful on the athletes than a full multi and because many high school meets only last one day, it allows the event to be contested in the time limit.

Throws pentathlon

Less common, but standardised internationally is the

throws pentathlon The throws pentathlon also called the weight pentathlon is a combined event in track and field. Like all pentathlon events, it consists of five events; the four Olympic throwing events hammer throw, shot put, discus throw and javelin throw, plus ...

. This contains field

throwing events Throwing sports, or throwing games, are physical, human competitions where the outcome is measured by a player's ability to throw an object. The two primary forms are throwing for distance and throwing at a given target or range. The four most p ...

only: hammer throw,

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

, discus throw, javelin throw, and weight throw. Although it does not have a position in high-profile global athletics competitions, it is present on the programme for the World Masters Athletics Championships for both men and women. This event features at national level in many developed English-speaking nations.British Masters Throws Pentathlon 2015
Tom Phillips. Retrieved on 2016-06-18.

References

{{Portal bar, Athletics Combined track and field events Pentathlon

Pentathlon A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) ( gr, πένταθλον). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of t ...