1912 Olympic Games Official Report Part 2

But this was not enough. It was also necessary to consider thereciprocal order in which the events should be placed, this being anOlympic competition, although the real value of the Modern Pentathlonought, of course, to consist in the fact, that a man who isreally in perfect physical and psychical condition, and who is expertin the branches of sport in question, will always be able to satisfythese tests, irrespective of the order in which they come, so that, forexample, he will be able to pass the shooting test perfectly well,even if he has previously been swimming, riding across very roughcountry, taking part in a cross-country run, or, for a longer orshorter length of time, been engaged in meeting an opponent withthe épée.Of course, the difficulty in executing the tests would be the samefor all the competitors, so that, in this respect, the events could beplaced in any order, but, on the other hand, there was the desire toobtain the best possible result that could be gained in each of thefive events, so it was considered that the most suitable method tobe adopted for the Olympic Games would be to place the events ina certain order, in accordance with the claim each made on the skilland endurance, etc., of the competitor.In consequence of the character of the Modern Pentathlon, thequestion may be asked whether, eventually, the competition should notbe so arranged that the competitor is left in ignorance of the orderin which the five events are to be taken, and that the order is determinedby drawing lots. This arrangement, however, might havethe result of unsteadying the competitors to some degree, and ofmaking it a matter of exceeding difficulty for the Olympic Committeeto organize the competition.The following brief account of the arrangements made for each ofthe various branches of the Modern Pentathlon at the Fifth Olympiad,in Stockholm, is given as some aid for future Olympic Games.Shooting.In the autumn of 1911, the Swedish Olympic Committee proposedthat the shooting should be carried out with pistols (so-called “Duelshooting”)at a distance of 20 metres, at a disappearing target consistingof a whole-figure, which was to be visible for 3 seconds.Later on, however, the thought arose that it would be better toincrease this, perhaps, too short, distance by 5 metres, so as to makethe event more in accordance with the value of the competition, andso the distance of 25 metres was adopted.The target was to consist of standing whole-figure, 1.70 metreshigh, i. e., corresponding in length to a man of normal height; thegreatest breadth was 0.50 metre. In order to determine the respectivevalue of the hits, the figure was to be divided into 10 zones, thebull’s-eye to count 10. The figure was to be visible 3 seconds, withan interval of 10 seconds between each shot, this period being fixedso as to allow ample time for reloading, for such competitors as didnot use automatically loading pistols.41 Fifth Olympiad. 641