Modern Pentathlon at the 2000 Summer Olympics

Women had competed at modern pentathlon World Championships since 1978. But in 2000, the modern pentathlon for women was finally placed on the Olympic Program. Thus there were two events in 2000 – individual competition for men and women. The fields were limited to 24 competitors in each event, as both events were held in one day – both on 30 September, and it was necessary to limit the fields to get the competition finished in one day. Both events began at 0645 (6:45 AM) and finished at around 1700 (5 PM). The order of events was also changed from 1996, with swimming and fencing changing positions. Thus the format was shooting, fencing, swimming, riding, and running. Two further changes occurred. Since 1912, the swimming had always been a 300 metre freestyle but beginning in 2000 this was changed to the 200 metre freestyle. And the cross-country run, which had always been over 4,000 metres, was shortened to 3,000 metres. Modern pentathlon still had only a tenuous position on the Olympic Program as the IOC was now continuously evaluating the sports on the program. Modern pentathlon was considered at risk to be dropped unless it could be made more popular to television and opened to more competitors from more nations.