Modern Pentathlon at the 1992 Summer Olympics

The program again consisted of a men’s individual and team event. But the order of the competition was drastically changed. Because the most dramatic changes in position have tended to occur in the steeplechase riding phase, it was elected to change this to the final phase of the event. The order of competition was thus: fencing, swimming, shooting, running, and riding. This experiment failed and this was the only time this order has been used at the Olympics. This also caused the cross-country run to be contested in the older method of all runners starting together, with points awarded for their times as they crossed the line. The changes in the format were attempts by the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) to bring more drama to the sport and make it appeal more to the media, specifically television. This was necessitated because the IOC was threatening to remove modern pentathlon from the Olympic Program, both because it did not sell well on television and because it was the Summer Olympic Sport with the fewest participating nations. There was one other minor change in the sport. Shooting had always been conducted using a rapid-fire pistol shot, with 20 shots from 50 metres, but in 1992 this was changed to an air pistol shot at 10 metres, still with 20 shots, with a 200 possible.