From 72 athletes in Paris 2024, the modern pentathlon will increase to 64 in Los Angeles 2028. A quota reduction which is not going down well within the International Modern Pentathlon Union. Shiny Fang, the secretary general of the UIPM, spoke at length about this decision on the institution's website. Through his voice, the world of pentathlon speaks thus "shocked, sad and treated unfairly", especially since he operated a major change by replacing horse riding with obstacle.
"We have done everything the IOC wanted to reform our sport so that it is more compatible with the future direction of the Olympic Games, and we have even gone beyond expectations.", explains Fang. The decision will have a negative impact on our development program for new countries, with only 64 pentathletes able to compete at LA28. The pentathlon was already the sport with the fewest medals and the lowest quota of athletes based on the figures from Paris 2024.
Among the 14 indicators used by the IOC to assess each sport, ten depend on "strongly on the number of days and hours allocated to each sport during the Olympic period, as well as the number of medals", deplores the secretary general, recalling that with « only three days of broadcasting, the pentathlon is not able to compete with the vast majority of sports" when the indicators do not take into account average or median values. Among these ten indicators, there are the number of internet searches and press articles, social media performance and the maximum total audience.
However, the pentathlon is far from being at the bottom of the class on other indicators such as the average television audience (34,347 million for the women's final), the performance of the FI's social networks (score of 218, while the lowest level was 84) or even the percentage of tickets sold (98,13%). "We still have a lot of work ahead of us, and it can only be done with the help of each and every one of you., says Fang, addressing the pentathlon community. We will be back to ask for your support and contributions to help the pentathlon improve in each of these areas – and get the fair treatment it deserves.”
