Astrochick asked a bunch of questions, and rather than leave a very long comment, I thought I’d just write a new post.
What is “modern” pentathlon? Is this designation meant to distinguish it from “antique” or “old-fashioned” pentathlon?
Modern pentathlon is one of the original Olympic sports. And by original, I mean, it was also part of the ancient Games. The sports back then were running, jumping, javelin, discus, and wrestling. It was apparently quite popular.
When Baron Pierre de Coubertin brought back the Olympics in 1896, he came up with the modern pentathlon. The modern sports are different because it’s based around a story. From my Wallechinsky book: “The basic premise behind the modern pentathlon is that a soldier is ordered to deliver a message. He starts out on the back of an unfamiliar horse, but is forced to dismount and fight a duel with swords. He escapes, but is trapped and has to shoot his way out with a pistol. Then he swims across a river, and finally he finishes his assignment by running a long distance through the woods.”
If the South African amputee can participate in the regular Olympics instead of the Paralympics, why can’t others? Or is it the athlete’s choice as to whether they want to go Para or try for the regular Games?
USA Today has a profile of the South African swimmer that helps explain her situation. She’s a long-distance swimmer, and that event isn’t in the Paralympics. She doesn’t wear a prosthetic to compete, which is part of the controversy around allowing disabled athletes to compete with regular athletes.
Double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius also tried to make these Games, but he didn’t qualify. Apparently earlier in the year, there was a ban on using prostheses because it was thought that the running legs were too springy and gave the disabled runner a bigger advantage. That ruling was overturned though.
My guess is that in most cases, Paralympic athletes just don’t have the speed to match the able-bodied athletes. Open water swim is probably one of the easier events to be able to do that (you need more upper body strength for the swim).
MLB pros can’t play Olympic baseball? Then why can NBA pros play Olympic basketball? The “pros in the Olympics” thing that started with the 90s “dream team” is part of my much-longer Olympics rant, but I’ll stick to this one question for now.
SI.com has a decent article addressing this. Do you shut down MLB to allow players to compete (since MLB has players from many countries, you would be taking a decent chunk of people away)? If so, then everybody else gets a long break, right in the critical part of the season. There’s threat of injury, players left behind might lose their rhythm, and the season would have to be three weeks longer.
It’s easier for NBA pros to play because this is their off-season. The NHL does shut down to let their players play, and I believe soccer has some sort of agreement to let players go. But those two sports don’t play nearly as often as baseball does.
And a question for you: Is Rhythmic Gymnastics a sport? I’m watching it now, and you know, it’s a lot of dancing and turning and high kicks while you spin a ribbon or throw some clubs in the air. I’ve never really understood this one and I know it’s not really popular here compared to the rest of the world, but when the announcer is talking about the difficulty in a routine and I can’t figure out what they mean by “difficulty,” I’m not sure how sporty this is. It’s really more of a dance art. Why don’t they just have a recital or something?
