Equestrian

The modern pentathlon was born from the story of an old soldier.

A young French cavalry officer in the 19th century was sent on horseback to deliver a message. He rode across the uneven terrain, through enemy lines, and was confronted by a soldier with his sword drawn. Challenged to a duel, the officer won, only to have his horse shot out from under him by another soldier.

After felling that soldier with a single shot, the officer ran on. He swam across a raging river, and then finally delivered the message.

Zsuzsanna Voros of Hungary kisses the finish line ribbon after winning the running discipline of modern pentathlon for the gold medal on August 27 2004 at the 2004 Athens Games. [Agencies]

The pentathlon, based on the officer's story, was introduced at the Stockholm Games in 1912 by the founder of the Modern Olympics, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, and has been dominated by European athletes since ever.

Modern pentathletes from the United States broke the European stranglehold by winning some medals at the Olympic Games - something China hopes to emulate this summer. At the 2005 World Championships in Warsaw, Poland, Qian Zhenhua of China unbalanced Europe's dominance by winning the gold medal. Previously, China's best performance at the worlds was fourth place.

At the Tokyo Asian Championships in May last year, the first Olympic qualifier for Beijing 2008 Games, China won full Olympic berths, two for each sex.

"I'm expecting a big breakthrough at the Beijing Games. A medal would be perfect," said Xu Haifeng, China's first Olympic gold medalist (shotting) and head of China's modern pentathlon team.

"The whole team is striving for that now."

Poland, Germany and Russia top the women's world rankings while Hungary is world No 1 on the men's side followed by Russia and Sweden.

From 1912 to 1980 the Olympic Modern Pentathlon competition was held over five days with one event per day. Between 1984 and 1992, the competition was held over four days with either running and shooting or swimming and shooting on the same day. There were individual medals awarded and from 1952 to 1992 team medals were decided by adding the three individual scores of team members together.

For the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996, the competition was a one-day event in which 32 men who qualified via pre-Olympic competitions participated. Only individual medals were awarded.