From: rgd3729@tamsun.tamu.edu (Greg Dilworth)
Subject: Modern Pentathlon:  Explanation and Predictions
Organization: Texas A&M University
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 06:29:28 GMT
Expires: Mon, 10 Aug 1992 05:00:00 GMT

Since not many people know very much about the Modern Pentathlon, I
figured I would post a brief explanation.

Pentathlon is theoretically a sport which combines the skills needed
by a Napoleonic messenger in the completion of his mission.  It
consists of five events, each of which have a base score of 1,000
points.  Points are added or deducted depending upon how well you do
on a certain event.

The first event is fencing.  The fencing is the only event in which
the competitors meet each other face-to-face and is thus the only
event in which a superior performance by one competitor will cause
another competitor to do less well.  The fencing is one touch epee.
(For those who don't know, the target in epee is the entire body, from
the top of the head to the soles of the feet.  The fencer must hit
his/her opponent with the point.)  There is a two minute time limit on
the bout and if neither opponent scores a clean touch both of them are
considered to have lost.
	A competitor who wins 70% of his bouts receives the 1,000
point base score.  Points are added for extra wins and deducted for
fewer ones.

The second event is shooting.  In this event the competitor stands 25
meters from the target with a .22 pistol.  The shooter must keep his
arm at a 45 degree angle until the rotating target faces him.  He then
has three seconds to fire each shot.  There are 20 shots from each
competitor.
	A competitor who gets a score of 182 out of 200 recieves the
1,000 points.

The thirdevent is swimming.  The swimmers compete in a 300 meter
freestyle race against the clock.  Points are added or deducted
for each half-second above or below 3:54.

The fourth event is running.  This is conducted on a 4,000 meter track
with each runner starting 30 seconds apart.  Points are added or
deducted based on 14:15.

The final event is riding.  The horses are chosen by lot from a pool
20 minutes prior to the start.  The competitors ride their horses over
a 600 meter course consisting of 15 jumps, including one double, one
triple, and one water jump.
	A perfect ride receives 1,100 points (the only one with more
than 1,000).  Points are deducted for faults or for slowness.

According to Sports Illustrated's predictions the winners should be:

Individual...

1	Anatoly Starostin		Unified Team
2	Laszlo Fabian			Hungary
3	Mike Gostigian			United States

So far Rob Stull is doing the best of the three Americans, mostly
because of his stellar fencing performance.  This performance is not
surprising when it is considered that he was once the United States
Epee Champion (not all that impressive on a worldwide note for
fencers, but pretty good for a pentathlete).  

It appears that SI is not going to get these right, since Arkadiusz
Skrzypaszek of Poland and Edouard Zenovka of the Unified Team have
broken with the pack and are over 100 points ahead of everyone else.
However, it would not be hard for a bad run or a shoddy ride to
destroy their chances.

SI predicts the standings for the teams to be:

1	Hungary
2	Unified Team
3	Poland

Currently Poland is leading, the Unified Team is in second, the USA is
in third, and Hungary is in fourth.  Maybe SI will be right about this
one.  It would be nice however (at least for this American who lives
near the Pentathlete's training center which is in San Antonio, TX)
for the US to sneak in and grab one.  We shall see over the next
couple of days.

Hope you get a chance to at least see a synopsis of this event on TV.
It really is a lot of fun to watch.

Yours,

Greg



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