Modern Pentathlon at the 1988 Summer Olympics

The order of the events was the same in 1988 as in 1984 – riding, fencing, swimming, shooting, and running. But unlike 1984, the competition took place over five days, with one phase held each day. Again the program consisted of a men’s individual and team event. One other change was in the riding phase. Previously this had always been conducted over a steeplechase course that took about 8-10 minutes to finish. But starting in 1988, it was contested as show jumping over a much shorter course, typically now only about 400 metres.