On June 27 and 28, in Ankara (Turkey), a new fifth discipline of modern pentathlon took place, intended to replace show jumping.
The need to replace show jumping arose after the events of the Tokyo Olympics, where Germany’s Annika Schloy lost due to an unsuccessful spell for the horse, and her trainer Kim Reisner hit the horse after the performance. It is the behavior of the trainer/sportswoman couple towards the animal that has raised a wave that threatens to drown an already unpopular Olympic sport.
The pentathletes were given a strict condition: to replace show jumping with another discipline within a fairly short period of time. Nothing helped – neither the collective letters of the athletes, nor the statements of the champions of past years. The IOC, apparently, decided to play populism and simply forced them to make changes under threat of exclusion from the Olympic program. There were rumors about a variety of replacement options, up to mountain biking, but in May, finally, the picture was sketched more clearly – they decided to try to do an obstacle course as a fifth discipline.
These nine obstacles, including swings, rings, balancing beams, etc. All this, of course, is interesting, but, in fact, it is an artificial change introduced abruptly, with practically no time for accumulation and preparation, in a sport where athletes have been trained for many years. About how such innovations can affect the pentathlon and whether it will remain as it was before, “” spoke with Rio 2016 Olympic champion Alexander Lesun.
— What can you say about the new pentathlon format presented in Ankara?
— My opinion is that this innovation contradicts the philosophy of modern pentathlon as a sport. First, we have our own culture and huge quality traditions. Secondly, our sport has already changed a lot over the past thirty years, but at the same time it has remained, so to speak, in a permissible form. But what is launched now is a completely new sport, moreover, it limits people in terms of anthropometry. Pentathletes have a completely different physique, everyone takes their own. But this fifth species, which will now be, definitely introduces those restrictions – everyone should be the same. And the situation of Rio-2016, when the little Belarusians and Lena Schöneborn with a height of 178 competed for girls, will no longer be possible.
In addition, this new fifth event, it seems to me, will be very traumatic for the pentathletes. There is a feeling that after the introduction of obstacles, other disciplines will gradually start to be removed, and in the end there will be only one and, perhaps, Lase Run. This makes me very sad, because show jumping was a good tradition.
– And the fact that in show jumping in the pentathlon the horse learned by many and over time how to pass obstacles over it was very little, never embarrassed?
“Of course, there’s a lot of luck involved in choosing a horse, and there have been times when someone has been unlucky. But we are already so used to it, it appeared a long time ago. It claimed not to be a pentathlon, but a hexathlon – the sixth event was luck, which still had to be agreed to somehow, and I really liked that. But even here there is a specificity – in recent years, at the world championships, the height of the obstacles in show jumping is 80-90 centimeters, and at the Olympics – 120 centimeters. And the new generation of pentathletes is not ready to jump such obstacles, they themselves do not know how, and sometimes horses are not prepared. Previously, we had good training camps in equestrian sports under the aegis of the international federation, people were trained. There were good routes, established taking into account the number of horses that the host country can offer. And then they often began to organize departures, for example, to Egypt, where they are not ready to provide an equal number of horses. As a result, in order for all the horses to pass the road, the obstacles began to be lowered. People stopped taking horse training.
– Do you think you can definitely forget show jumping?
– The fifth type is being modified to keep the pentathlon on the program for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. But the IOC has not given specific instructions on exactly how the pentathlon should be modified for the maintain. And this innovation does not give any guarantee. It’s just kind of an attempt to please the IOC, the Organizing Committee for the 2028 Games, etc.
– Will current pentathletes, those who already compete in the elite, be able to master this new type, an obstacle course? Or are we talking about the fact that only the younger generation will be able to fully cope with it?
– The fact is that the situation with this species is generally a bit incomprehensible. There are no big tournaments for children, cadets. It’s a traumatic sport, so it’s not clear how to prepare children. In general, it is not clear how to sail first and then do everything they did in Ankara now. In addition, to hold such competitions, special venues are needed, which cost about $100,000, and they need to be built.
– And what should our pentathletes do, given the current state of Russian sport in general?
– It is understood that we will probably not go to the Paris Olympics. Yes, tournaments are held in Russia and Belarus, the organization is good – a fact. Athletes will be able to eat. But there are athletes who don’t compete for money, but want to win medals at World Championships and so on. And I don’t know what motivation they will find. It’s very difficult for me to talk about it. But at the same time, the level of international competitions has dropped today, since Russia, Belarus and Ukraine were one of the mainstays of the pentathlon. And now, in fact, apart from someone from Ukraine, no one can play there. How to interest young people when all the traditions have changed?
– So, maybe, if Russia and Belarus are still isolated from international competitions, leave show jumping with us?
– I offered that option. We have a beautiful and interesting sport, we just need to show it properly. When the President’s Cup was held in Moscow, it was really interesting to watch. Of course, there are some hiccups, nuances, but they can be improved in terms of entertainment. Let me give you a historical example: once, before the beginning of the 90s, our sport was united under the roof of a federation with biathlon. There was the International Union of Modern Pentathlon and Biathlon, founded in 1948. At the same time, pentathletes were better known than biathletes. And now look at what has become of biathlon, which has become one of the main winter sports, and where we are.
Source : MatchTV
