Pentathlon, Men

The pentathlon was a laughable win for Eero Lehtonen of Finland. He moved into first place after the second event, the javelin throw, and was never headed, placing first or second in four of the five events. However, behind him, a great battle ensued for the other medals. Everett Bradley (USA), Hugo Lahtinen (FIN), Bob LeGendre (USA), Helge Løvland (NOR), and Brutus Hamilton (USA) were separated by only three points on the point-for-place scoring system.

Bradley won the silver medal. Lahtinen took the bronze medal in a tie-breaker with LeGendre, in which the decathlon scoring tables were used. Løvland again narrowly beat out Hamilton, this time for 5th place, and again the decathlon scoring tables were needed to break the tie. In addition to his gold medal, Lehtonen was also awarded the Challenge Prize that had been donated by the King of Sweden. In addition to his gold medal, Løvland was also awarded the Challenge Prize that had been donated by the Russian Emperor.

Points were re-scored after three events and four events, so that only those athletes who went on to the next rounds were counted for the final scoring. Only 12 were supposed to advance to the fourth event, the discus throw, and only six were supposed to compete in the final event, the 1,500 metres. However, the athletes protested the Finnish competitors, Hugo Lahtinen and Ossian Nylund, so intially 14 athletes were allowed to go through to the fourth phase. Ole Reistad and Edmond Médecin were tied after the third event, the 200 metres, so eventually 15 athletes competed in the discus throw. Because of the protest against Lahtinen, Bertil Ohlson was allowed to run the 1,500 as a seventh competitor.