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The German pentathlete Annika Schleu competing at the Olympics in Tokyo: the crisis in the sport began with the scandal surrounding her
Photo:
IVAN ALVARADO / Ivan Alvarado / REUTERS
The Japanese Taishu Sato took advantage of the moment.
At the World Cup of Modern Pentathlon in Budapest at the weekend, the entire top of the world association was there.
So when Sato changed into fencing, he presented a T-shirt with the message: "Keep Riding and Change the Rules."
Keep riding and change the rules!
Sato received a yellow warning card from the judges.
The world association UIPM with the German Klaus Schormann at the top should also feel warned.
The atmosphere among the modern pentathlon athletes is tenser than ever.
The dissatisfaction with the world association is enormous, the reorganization of the sport threatens to become a disaster.
Pictures went around the world
Running, shooting, fencing, horseback riding and swimming - that's what Olympic founder Pierre de Coubertin wanted when he helped create the modern pentathlon more than 100 years ago.
It stayed that way for more or less a century, until the competition at the Summer Games in Tokyo in early summer, with the unworthy performance of the tearful German Annika Schleu for all involved.
She couldn't manage to move the horse Saint Boy, which was drawn to her, through the show jumping course.
She was also encouraged by her trainer Kim Raisner, who asked Schleu to hit the horse with the riding crop.
The pictures of Tokyo went around the world.
The matter became a scandal and it was clear that something had to change after that.
Since then, the only arguments have been about what and how it should change, and the conflict between the officials and the athletes has now escalated.
The world association wants to ban horse riding completely from the program after the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
But so that it can continue to be called pentathlon, an alternative discipline is needed: According to a report by the "Guardian", the association prefers an obstacle course, i.e. show jumping without horses, so to speak, previously a cross-bike course had been considered.
Whether running or cycling - that has now almost receded into the background, the anger of the athletes has become too great: They feel insufficiently involved in the process - and have now made it public.
Pentathlon United, which brings together numerous pentathletes such as British Olympic champion Joe Choong, published a letter to IOC boss Thomas Bach on Twitter.
In it, athletes complain about the handling of the world association.
The signatories state that there is "a complete loss of confidence in the leadership of the UIPM", it is "clear that the UIPM does not hear or represent the athletes", this is "a breach of the Olympic Charter".
Bach had to have this examined.
Already in November protests
It is the culmination of a conflict that has been smoldering since November at the latest.
At that time, athletes had spoken out in concert for the first time and expressed their dissatisfaction with the procedure.
It is logical that the removal of horseback riding from the program significantly changes the statics of the sport, the training methods, the focus of preparation, not least frustrating those who scored numerous points in horseback riding because it was their specialty.
“We currently have young athletes who are suspected of training several possible new fifth sports, but are ultimately up in the air,” complains Robin Schmidt, spokesman for the national association DVMF, that this is just for the generation that is preparing for the 2028 games "problematic," says Schmidt to SPIEGEL.
Schormann, who has been the largely unrestricted head of the association for the past 29 years, has primarily pursued one goal in the almost three decades of his tenure: to save the Olympic presence of the pentathlon.
Like few other sports, the modern pentathlon only attracts public attention every four years, when the summer games are held.
In order to preserve this, Schormann has already expected a lot from the sport in the past: running and shooting were combined into the so-called laser run.
As of this season, the competition is held in a new format in which all disciplines are completed within a total of 90 minutes with semi-finals and finals, so that not all athletes do all disciplines from start to finish.
That didn't spark any enthusiasm among the athletes either.
Disastrous survey
Instead, Pentathlon United have presented a poll that is said to have surveyed more than 300 pentathletes over the past month: the result is a debacle for the federation.
95 percent are unhappy with the way the UIPM is managing the transformation process, with 77 percent saying it is "unlikely" that they will remain loyal to the sport if it is changed according to the world governing body's plans.
The UIPM has not yet commented on the letter.
The top of the world association meets this Monday in Budapest.
On Tuesday, the public could learn how the officials imagine the future of the sport.
According to DVMF spokesman Schmidt, the German association has no knowledge of whether a final decision has actually been made.
Although IOC boss Thomas Bach is a former fencer, he has never shown any particular affinity for the pentathlon.
Difficult to market, low profile;
the modern pentathlon is not a sport that makes commercial hearts beat faster.
It is therefore no wonder that the IOC has removed the pentathlon from the program for the 2028 games – with reservations.
The sport must have solved its problems by then, according to the requirement from the top, otherwise it would no longer take place in Los Angeles.
And the problems are now very deep.