V Olympic Games opened the first page of the history of modern pentathlon. By this time, this kind of sports had been cultivated in many countries in Europe, the USA and gained popularity in the international sports movement. 16 countries expressed their willingness to participate in pentathlon. Apparently, they thought that the preparation of their athletes met the criteria established at the Olympic sports.
In reality, there were 32 athletes from 10 countries to compete (Austria, Britain, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Russia, USA, Sweden, and France). The largest team was the Swedish team, which consisted of 12 people. As expected, the host-country of the Olympics wanted to show high class of training of the athletes according to standards of that time. And they succeeded.
The Swedes won. Gösta Lilliehook was the gold medalist and the first Olympic champion in modern pentathlon, and the words of Pierre de Coubertin about silver and bronze medalists became a motto: Victory is not the main thing, participation is." The first six participants of the V Olympic Games opened not only the first page of the international class list of pentathletes; it increased the international level of pentathlon sporting achievements.
So, the Swede Osbrink won in the shooting with a score of 193 points out of possible 200. Two of his fellow countryman got one point less than him two points lower was the Englishman Hug Durant. Ten athletes achieved the result of less than 186 points. The Englishman Rolfe Egerton Klilverd was the best in swimming with a score of 4min 58.4 seconds, 8 people overcame the distance of 300 meters faster than 6 min, and it took four participants more than 8 min. In Track and Field Cross Country Gest Osbrink also showed the best time - 19min 00.9 sec. The difference between the winner and the last runner was more than 7 minutes. In the present system of scoring the winner would have had the result of 3156 points at the V Olympics, whereas the silver medal winner would have earned 3335 points. For comparison, recall that under the current classification of the sports they fit the third category, which is more than modest. But they served as a guide for future Olympic contenders for the award. Some indicators were surpassed only after one-two Olympic cycles. Having received the recognition of the International Olympic Committee, the modern pentathlon has taken its rightful place in the Olympic Games, gave impetus to the improvement and development of not only the quantitative but also qualitative parameters.
At the V Olympiad in Stockholm, Russia sent 178 people who were in all parts of the program, except for water polo, swimming and diving (women). Pentathlon team consisted of four people. They were the Imperial Army troopers Oscar Vilkman, Axel Arno Almkvist, Valley Hogental and Ivan Nepokupnoy. The first one reached the 16th place, the second one was the 20th, and the third one arrived 21st. Nepokupnoy, who finished as the 6th after shooting with 185 points, concluded his participation after the failure at the horse cross-country. In the future, because of the difficult political and economic upheavals in the world in the first half of XX century, as well as ideological confrontation in international relations, Russian and then Soviet athletes did not participate in the Olympic Games. Once the USSR Olympic Committee (NOC of the USSR) was created in 1951, which was recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Soviet athletes were active in all the Olympics.
VI The next Olympic Games were to be held in 1916 in Berlin. However, the First World War prevented their implementation. Nevertheless, it is appropriate to recall a single initiative related to the preparation of pentathletes for the Games. The Prussian Prince Kara Frigyes, a relative of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor, pursued an ambitious idea to beat the Swedes on their land and, therefore, organized the training for pentathlon of more than a 100 officers and noncommissioned officers. In 1914 there was a major qualifying competition, the winner of which was the prince himself. Unfortunately, the results of these competitions could not be found. We only know that many pentathletes, including Prince Frigyes, died in that war, and bequeathed the development of officer pentathlon in Germany to their descendants.
* From 1908 to 1920 the number of medals won was counted as a basis for SCP: a gold medal was given 3 points, for the silver - 2, and for the bronze - 1. Starting from 1924 points were credited for the first six places in each part of the program by the number of winners, who were awarded Olympic awards. 1st place was worth 7 points, 2 nd - 5, 3rd - 4, 4th - 3, 5th - 2, 6th - 1 point.