Pentathlon is a five part competition for athletes involving five different events. The name pentathlon has come from two Greek words: pente meaning five and athlon meaning contest. In pentathlon each participant must take part in all the five different events. The one who has the highest aggregate score is selected as the winner.
In ancient Greece and Rome the chosen events were ones thought to test all the strength and skills of an athlete. The five events in those days were wrestling. Foot-racing, jumping, javelin throw and discus throw. Javelin was a light spear and discus was a flat plate made of stone or metal. The player had to compete in all the five events as above in one day.
In 1912 when Olympic Games were modified to modern style, wrestling was replaced by a 1500 metre race. At the same time the military pentathlon was introduced in the Olympics. The five events for military pentathlon were riding, fencing, swimming, shooting and 4000 meters race. These events were made to test the abilities of a messenger which might have been needed for cavalry warfare.
The Olympic Games dropped the Greek-style pentathlon for men in 1924 but retained the military style. In 1964 the games introduced the women’s pentathlon. The five events for women athletes were high jump, long jump, 200 metre race, 80 metre race over hurdles and shot-put (throwing a heavy metal ball).
Later the racing distance for women made 800 metres instead of 200 m and over 100 metres for hurdles.