Q 01/05

Whose experience was the modern pentathlon designed to simulate?

A) A siege engineer under fire

B) A naval officer adrift at sea

C) A frontier scout in the mountains

D) A cavalry soldier behind enemy lines

Answer · why

D) A cavalry soldier behind enemy lines

A cavalry soldier behind enemy lines: he has to ride an unfamiliar horse, fight his way out with pistol and sword, then swim and run back to his own s...

Q 02/05

The word pentathlon joins the Greek for five with a Greek word meaning what?

A) Warrior

B) Contest

C) Victory

D) Strength

Answer · why

B) Contest

Contest: the same Greek root gave English the word athlete, and "modern" was added so that nobody confused the new event with the pentathlon of the an...

Q 03/05

Which city hosted the 1912 Games where modern pentathlon made its Olympic debut?

A) Stockholm

B) Antwerp

C) London

D) Paris

Answer · why

A) Stockholm

Stockholm staged the first competition, and the hosts swept all three medals, the start of a run in which Swedes won the first five Olympic titles.

Q 04/05

Most sources credit which man with inventing the modern pentathlon?

A) Avery Brundage

B) Pierre de Coubertin

C) Henri de Baillet-Latour

D) Juan Antonio Samaranch

Answer · why

B) Pierre de Coubertin

Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, first proposed the event in 1909 and had to wait until an IOC session in Budapest in 1911 for his...

Q 05/05

Which discipline replaced show jumping in senior modern pentathlon competitions from 2025?

A) Obstacle course racing

B) Kayak slalom run

C) Mountain bike sprint

D) Archery shoot-off

Answer · why

A) Obstacle course racing

Obstacle course racing beat more than 60 rival proposals to take the place of riding, which had been one of the five events for over a century.