The competition of pentathletes at this Olympics was the most representative. 16 countries had transferred 41 athletes to the capital of Germany. For the first time in history athletes from Switzerland, Brazil and Greece appear at the Olympics.
Given the progress of German athletes in previous years, as well as the factor of competing in their home country, the victory of Gotthard Khandrikov in the tournament was not a surprise. German athletes had been chasing their target with enviable persistence, trying not to step over the threshold for the first six, and finally won the gold prize. The German team was the strongest in many other types of the Olympic program and had received the greatest number of medals. The peculiarity was that, despite the Olympic Charter owners had used the Olympics Games to promote the fascist regime that reduced the international repercussions of the triumph of German athletes. The war unleashed by Nazi Germany, the situation of the postwar period ruled out German participation in the subsequent XIV and XV Olympics. Only at the Olympics in 1956 it was represented as a unified team (WGC).
At the XI Olympic Games silver was won by the American Charles Leonard, a bronze medalist was the Italian Silvano Abba. For the Swedish band The Berlin Games have brought utter disappointment. Only one athlete - Sven Tofelt managed to break into the top six and won the 4th place. This performance, however, was not Tofelta’s last sporting achievement. Among his pupils there were two Olympic champions - his son Byrne Tofelt and Willie Groot. As an energetic organizer and member of the UIPM Board, he initiated the world championships in pentathlon. From 1960 to 1988 he headed the International Union of Modern Pentathlon and Biathlon (UIPMB), was a member of the IOC, and the president of the National Union of Modern Pentathlon and Fencing.
In 1981 Olympic Association members awarded him with the Hans-Heinrich Sievert prize, which is awarded annually to athletes who have outstanding accomplishments in their professional activities, along with the sports career. In presenting the award, it was stressed that in 1928 Tofelt became the Olympic champion in modern pentathlon, won six titles at national championships in Sweden. In addition, he achieved great success in fencing on swords. At the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936 and in London in 1948 he won silver and bronze medals. Moreover, he had four wins in national epee fencer competitions. Sven Tofelta in Sweden is considered an outstanding general, who advocated pentathlon at the international level, and performed numerous professional and social functions.
Sensational event of the Games in Berlin was the result of the American Leonard, who showed the maximum 200 out of possible 200 in pistol shooting. This record could not be repeated up to 1978. Athletes from other countries performed well. In the unofficial team standings the Italian and Hungarian teams scored points for the first time, and ranked behind Germany and the U.S. on the 3rd and 4th places.
More than half of the competitors in shooting broke the line of 180 points, in swimming 10 athletes met the standard of five minutes, and 20 people did not lose to the winner more than two minutes in running.
The progress of pentathlon after the Berlin Olympics was suspended by the Second World War. The next game had to wait 12 years. However, in Europe pentathletes did not stop competing.
In June 1937, the German army competition was held in Wünsdorf, in which participants were offered to overcome the distance of 7.5 km cross-country on a motorcycle instead of the equestrian cross-country. Unfortunately, except for the notes in the Hungarian newspaper "National Sport", no other information about this tournament could be found.
In 1938 in Budapest a major international meeting was held, at which the Swede Bollden showed the result of 3 minutes and 56.4 seconds for the first time in 300m swimming competition. Prizes were won by Hungarians Orban and Bolgar, and the Swede Gilenstierna.
In 1939 an international competition was held in Berlin. The strongest six of is as follows: 1st -Lemp, 2nd - Branfeld (both from Germany), the 3rd - Bolgar (Hungary), 4th - Hulme (Finland), 5th - Kessarelli, 6th - Curcio (both from Italy). Highlighting the event, the newspaper "Berliner Zeitung" reported that Captain von Oerttsen developed a new assessment system, under which the winner is not determined by the sum of earned points in each program, but by the greatest amount of points earned for each exercise, similar to the definition of the results in the northern combined.
In October, 1947 in Stockholm was held an international meeting, the winner of which was the Swede Willy Groot, 2nd place went to Swede Gard, 3rd - Hungarian Karachon. Officially, the winner was determined using the previous scoring system, but the results determined by the new scoring system were also included in the final protocol.
Preparing for the XIV Olympiad stimulated the search for new forms of competition with all-around orientation.
An initiative of the Federation of Switzerland was noteworthy, because they decided to hold a demonstration tournament in pentathlon at the V Olympic Winter Games in St. Moritz. The program included the following sports: ski race at the 10km, shooting a pistol at 25 yards, downhill skiing, fencing swords, and horse riding parkour. Of the 12 starters all the prizes were won by the Swedes in the following order: Lindh, Groot, Haase. In ski racing the first three places went to the Swedes Haase, Lindh and Egnelyu. Fencing was won the Swiss Ruif. In shooting with a score of 194 points won Lindh, 2nd and 3rd places were taken by Engel and Groot, respectively, by earning 193 and 191 points.
There was no expected resonance at the competition, but they reinforced the idea of including a complex sports in the Olympic program, which was later embodied in the biathlon (ski race with shooting).
Successful performance of Swiss athletes at the V Olympic Winter Games - 2nd place after Sweden in the unofficial team standings - prompted the leaders of this country in preparation for the summer Games hold a tournament in modern pentathlon. In the summer of 1948 40 participants from 10 countries met in the resort town Tuun. The Swede Groot was unreachable, 2nd place went to his compatriot Veglin, 3rd - Hungarian Karachon, 4th was the representative of Switzerland Rhine. This time the team standings were determined as well by three members from the same country. The Swedes were announced as winners, ahead of Hungarian and Swiss teams.