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When the Persian military officer Tigranes "heard that the prize was not money but a crown [of olive], he could not hold his peace, but cried, 'Good heavens, Mardonius, what kind of men are these that you have pitted us against? It is not for money they contend but for glory of achievement!'"   Herodotus, Histories , 8.26.3
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The Combined Events - PENTATHLON

Scoring - The Point System

I believe I found a mentioning that the pentathlon dates back to the Olympic Games of 708 B.C. The pentathlon consisted of running, long jumping, discus throw, javelin throw, and wrestling. Obviously, is was an event that was intended to show all-round development. The exact order of events and the precise method of determining a winner are not known. Wrestling is believed to have been the last event and may have decided the winner of the pentathlon if a participant did not have a clear advantage in the first four events.  Historians have somewhat been able, with some degree of certainty, to determine how the winner of the pentathlon was actually decided. If a point system had been employed, as in our modern games, there would be no difficulty in crowning a champion; however, no evidence has been produced to support a point system in the Greek pentathlon. With the absence of such a scoring system, we are only able only to present some theories and assumptions about the Greek pentathlon.

Whatever. I am certain that in the end everybody would be able to agree on who was the best athlete around. After all, it was every four years at the same venue and the conditions were equal to all athletes. Every half educated ESPN subscriber would be able to point out the best dude after four events. If two guys looked equally good, let 'em wrestle until one comes out the winner. Give him the glory and embarrass himself reciting his own poems.

For us, it cannot be done without a scoring system. It's a bit complicated but not that difficult. The scoring system is identical in the decathlon, heptathlon and pentathlon .

Okay, that done, we have to tackle the next step. How do they score Masters events? We have to go back to the WAVA-Tables to find adjustments for the different age groups. Here is our list, copied right out of the WAVA-Tables:

Age Groups
LJ
JT
JT
200 M
DT
1500 m
800
600
2.0 kg
1.5 kg
1.0 kg
40
1.1265
1.1829
0.9488
1.0000
0.9479
45
1.2049
1.2999
0.9159
1.0949
0.9137
50
1.2888
1.4285
0.8840
1.0787
0.8788
55
1.3786
1.5698
0.8531
1.2025
0.8428
60
1.4746
1.5893
0.8226
1.1174
0.8052
65
1.5773
1.7465
0.7895
1.2457
0.7654
70
1.6871
1.9192
0.7525
1.3887
0.7227
75
1.8046
2.1090
0.7116
1.5482
0.6763
80
1.9302
2.3176
0.6666
1.7260
0.6251
85
2.1391
2.6793
0.6173
2.0414
0.5671
90
2.5062
3.3596
0.5636
2.6572
0.4976
95
3.1145
4.6022
0.5054
3.8454
0.4038
100
4.1203
6.9467
0.4426
6.2655
0.2488

That should be it . Most likely, you will not find this stuff easily on line or elsewhere. It took me a while but at least I can play around with my training results and have a bit of understanding. The Greek guys would have written odes to visitors from outer space if somebody would have mentioned competitors in the 100 + age group. I include the guys and girls without even contemplating the astonishing fact that according to 2003 census data, we have 59639 fellow Americans over the age of 100 among us. That is one strong age group. Imagine them all showing up at the Nationals!

I combined all the tables above into one Excel spreadsheet as explained on the preceding page. Just click on the MULTITABLE button above on the left side and open the related Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. For now, I only included the 5-year age groups in the men's pentathlon. For all other events you only find the open score, the Masters age graded adjustments are not included. I'll get to it one of these days. Promised.

 

Combined events were considered to be the standard of versatility going back to the era of the ancient Greeks.When the ancient Olympic Games ended in 390 AD, there was a break of almost 1,500 years. This tradition was renewed in the mid-19th century in England. There is also news of similar developments in Germany at about the same time. The modem combined events probably began in America in about 1880. Combined events were held over a single day and became so popular that the organizers of the third Olympic Games in St. Louis in 1904, included a combined event as an unofficial discipline in the program of the Games.

In 1910, Sweden, as the host of the fifth Olympic Games in Stockholm in 1912, decided to include a one-day pentathlon (long jump, javelin, 200m, discus, and 500m), as well as a two-day decathlon (100m, long jump, shot, high jump, 400m, 110m hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin, and 1500m). In fact, because of the high number of starting athletes, the decathlon was extended to three days. There was also a change in the order of disciplines (between the discus and the 110m hurdles). The original sequence of disciplines was approved by the IAAF Congress in 1914 and has remained unchanged till the present time.

After my participation in a few pentathlons I'm convinced that I'm on the right track. I feel that I should move from specialization (i.e. middle distances) to the versatility that was so much valued by the ancient Greek. A sport that taxes and trains my whole body and includes a structured weight and strength program should be better for me, at least that is my theory. Now, I'm telling myself that I should move up to the decathlon.