(ATR) International Modern Pentathlon Union president Klaus Schormann tells Around the Rings laser pistols and a combined running-shooting leg ready his sport for "another one or two generations" at the Olympics.
"If you are selling a car, you cannot always sell the same model," he told ATR late Saturday after the riding portion of the men’s event.
"You can only sell your product if you are developing your product, and so we have made our sport safer, cheaper, easier to organize, more accessible, and better for children."
Less than an hour later, also at Greenwich Park, two dramatic changes – both introduced by the German – would make their Games debut.
Schormann, president of UIPM since 1993, insisted he wasn’t nervous, only excited as LOCOG’s emcee – in between cuts from Elvis, Michael Jackson and Daft Punk – educated the packed stands about modern pentathlon’s new-look final leg.
Instead of the traditional shooting and running portions, contested separately since IOC founder Pierre de Coubertin invented the sport ahead of Stockholm 1912, the two are now combined into a single contest staged within the same venue.
Athletes must complete a 3km cross-country course, stopping three times along the way to fire laser pistols at a stationary target and "reloading" after each shot until they score five hits and can then resume running.
"The word ‘modern’ we really can 100 percent underline now," said Schormann, adding that Saturday morning’s swimming in the Aquatics Center and fencing in Copper Box also used all the latest technology.
"We are running with the ships," he told ATR.
Asked about the accessibility challenges surrounding a sport that requires a swimming pool, horses, fencing facilities and now laser pistols, he emphasized the elimination of a shooting range from the equation and stressed how the UIPM also supports the run, swim, run "biathle" event, especially at the school level.
In the bottom-up approach envisioned by Schormann, athletes who enjoy running and swimming are encouraged to try shooting. Then maybe they’ll pick up fencing, he suggested. Once there, might as well ride?
A lot goes into modern pentathlon, he admitted, but that’s precisely why spectators love the sport.
"Everybody wants to see five disciplines. An athlete with five skills is a gladiator," he said, listing the physical, mental and other required skills, including the ability to bond with a randomly drawn horse within 20 minutes before attempting the riding (and sometimes rodeo) portion.
Led by new men’s champion David Svodoba of Czech Republic and British favorite Mhairi Spence in Sunday’s women’s event, these pentathletes, Schormann said, are the best ever at the Games.
Whether they’re also among the last, he would not say.
When the IOC’s Executive Board examines the summer program next year and likely relegates one existing Olympic sport to its shortlist of seven up for inclusion in 2020, modern pentathlon will be among those bandied about.
Schormann denied any link between his recent changes and the coming EB review.
"We enrich our sport for the future, and now we have prepared our sport for another one or two generations," he said.
"We are not saying we do this to be still in the Olympic program. We do this for the love of our sport, and we are very confident that we belong to the Olympic Movement and that we are a part, like a heart, of the Olympic Movement."
In fact, he said, the UIPM is hoping to add another event to its competition for Rio 2016.
"We hope to get the third medal, the mixed relay, what we have already established in the Youth Olympic Games since Singapore," he explained, emphasizing that the relay would add no athletes to the Games and would give more countries the opportunity to medal.
"Our people are highly educated, and we are following the Olympic values," he concluded before dashing off to see the laser pistols and combined event make their Games debut.
"This is such a treasure that you have in the Olympic Movement, one you should keep as well."
Reported from Greenwich Park by Matthew Grayson.
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