What is pentathlon?

Pentathlon

The pentathlon (as opposed to the modern pentathlon) was an athletic event in the Olympic Games and other Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece.

The name derives from Greek words for "five competitions." The five events were stadion (a short foot race), wrestling, which were also held as separate events, and the long jump, javelin throw and discus throw, which were not held as separate events then. Pentathletes were considered to be among the most skilled athletes, and their training was often part of military service—each of the five events was thought to be useful in battle.

The winner of the stadion was considered the champion of the entire Games, and was often the only name remembered in connection with a particular Games, especially during the earliest period. If the same man won the long jump, discus throw, and javelin throw, there was no need hold the stadion and wrestling events, although they would still be held separately. Wrestling was held in a sand pit, at the Olympic Games outside the Temple of Zeus, while the other events were all held in the stadion (or stadium) from which the name of the race was taken. Wrestling and the discus throw had essentially the same rules as their modern versions (although the actual technique used by the athletes might have been a bit different), but the others had slight differences. The javelin throw used a leather strap, called an amentum, rather than having the athlete grip the shaft of the javelin itself. The stadion was a sprint of approximately 200 yards (or about 180 meters), longer than the modern 100 meter sprint, but shorter than all other ancient running events.

The long jump is perhaps the most unusual, compared to the modern version. A long jumper used weights called halteres to propel himself farther out of standing, and his jump probably consisted of five separate leaps, more like the modern triple jump; otherwise, distances of known jumps (which are often as far as 50 feet) would seem to be impossible.

Competitors in the javelin and discus throws were allowed five throws each, and only their longest throw would count. It is possible that the long jump was also done five times.

In the classical games, it was traditional for all of these events to be performed in the nude.

In the modern Olympics, a men's track and field Pentathlon was held in 1912, 1920 and 1924. This was won in 1912 by Jim Thorpe of the USA and in 1920 and 1924 by Eero Lehtonen of Finland. After Thorpe was stripped of his gold medal for breaking the amateur rule, the 1912 gold was awarded to Norway's Ferdinand Reinhardt Bie, who is now officially listed as a joint winner with Thorpe, who was reinstated in the 1980s, in the International Olympic Committee's records.

A women's pentathlon was held from 1964 through 1980, after which it was replaced by the heptathlon in 1984.


五項運動

古代五項運動
最完美的運動員是五項運動的運動員，因為他們表現了力量和速度的結合呈現完美的協調〞-------亞里斯多德(希臘哲學家)。
古代五項運動最初是由斯巴達人發明出來作為訓練士兵的方法，包含了跑步、跳遠、標槍擲遠、鐵餅擲遠以及摔角。第一次出現是在西元708年第18屆的古奧林匹亞運動會上，從此，五項運動在任何的比賽中都佔有獨一無二的重要性，而且五項運動的勝利者也都被視為最優秀的運動員，尊稱之為〝至高無上的勝利者〞。
這些對於古代五項運動的傳承，要完全歸功於現代五項運動的創始者～古伯丁男爵，他同時也是現代奧運的創始者，他對於五項運動的信念，強烈的表現在他1931年出版的奧林匹克回憶錄裡。從1909年開始，他嘗試著將五項運動納入奧林匹克比賽項目中，經歷了兩次的失敗，直到第十九屆在布達佩斯(匈牙利)舉行的國際奧林匹克委員會議才獲得通過，當時，男爵敘述道〝偉大的運動之神指引了我的同事們，他們都接受認同我所推展的五項比賽〞。

現代五項運動
1912年在斯德哥爾摩舉行的第五屆奧林匹克運動會首次引進〝現代〞五項運動比賽，不僅完全保有古代五項運動的傳統精神，更進一步由當代的射擊、擊劍、游泳、馬術和跑步五項運動組成。因為古伯丁男爵深信這五項運動超越了所有其他種類的運動，是一種〝對人類道德品格、體格、機智及技巧最嚴格的試煉，從而產生近乎理想、完全、均衡的運動員〞。
這五個完全不同且不相關項目使得現代五項運動繼續傳承，但其選擇產生的過程卻一點也不羅曼蒂克，而是由一位連絡官堅忍不拔的冒險故事而來的，他在敵人的陣地內落馬，使得他必須用槍及劍來保衛自己，他游過了湍急的河流，用自己的雙腳成功返回傳遞訊息。毫無意外地，軍方立即熱烈採用這種嚴格要求勇氣、協調力、體能、自律以及在多變的環境下靈活應變的運動。
一位年輕的美軍中尉，之後在第二次世界大戰中成為著名的將軍～巴頓將軍，就是一位在首次奧林匹克現代五項比賽中獲得第五名的選手。而且很多歐洲的軍事院校多年來均把現代五項運動作為畢業測驗的一部份。