ACOG - Pentathlon - IBM

Who to Watch in Modern Pentathlon

It's tough to pick favorites, but there are some whose records stand out even in this crowd. Dmitrii SVATKOVSKI (RUS), quickly emerged as the one to beat. He replaced the previous contender who dominated the sport, his ill-fated compatriot ZENOVKA. ZENOVKA was the favorite in Barcelona, and would have taken the gold had his horse not fallen. Shortly after the Olympic Games, he ran head-on into a truck late one night. Though he survived, he will never reclaim his previous status. SVATKOVSKI has since won both the '94 World Championship and the '94 World Cup. He's the clear favorite for this year's finals.

Sweden, Hungary and the former Soviet Union have dominated the sport in past years — in fact, Sweden nearly shut out the competition every year modern pentathlon was competed between 1912 and 1948, except in 1936. That tide has turned, and this year the favorites include athletes from the Russian Federation, Hungary and Georgia. Janos MARTINEK (HUN), the gold medalist in Seoul in 1988 and Vakhtang YAGORASHVILI (GEO), the bronze medalist, in addition to SVATKOVSKI, will contend for medals.

Other contenders are Maciej CZYZOWICZ from Poland, who lived and trained in the United States; Peter STEINMANN from Switzerland, Igor FELDMAN from Kyrgyzstan, Per-Olov DANIELSSON from Sweden, Michael GOSTIGIAN from the United States, whose weak spot is the ride; and Christophe RUER from France, a great swimmer and big organizer in the sport.

Note: Athletes have not been confirmed as participants as of press time. Entrants will be finalized on 5 July 1996.

This is an official publication of The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department. Written by Jennifer Knight. Special thanks to the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne et Biathlon.


Olympic Factoid
Closing Ceremony of the 1996 Games involved a crew of 2,100 who worked with more than 3,500 performers as well as thousands of athletes who celebrated on the field of Olympic Stadium.