Women's Pentathlon
The track and field pentathlon was a multi-sport women's event that was contested as a part of the Summer Olympics between 1964 to 1980. The event was superseded by the heptathlon event for women starting with the 1984 games.
The pentathlon consisted of five competitions, hurdle race, high jump, short put throw, long jump and flat race. The distances for the hurdle race and the flat race were changed in the later Olympics in which the event was held. The hurdle race was over 80m the first two times, in 1964 and 1968, and was changed to 100m for the future games. The flat race was a 200m sprint until the 1976 Olympics and was changed to a middle distance race of 800m for the 1980 Moscow games.
The scheduling of the events also underwent some changes. Untill 1976, the hurdle race, short put and high jump were held on day one followed by the long jump and flat race on day two. In 1980, all five competitions were conducted on the same day.
Athletes from the ex-Soviet Union were the most successful in the event with two gold medals, six total medals and a podium sweep in 1980. The East Germans put on a great show in the 1976 games by also sweeping the podium.
Related Pages
- Women's Olympic Heptathlon
- Other Track and Field discontinued events
- Full list of all Discontinued Events
- Modern Pentathlon at the Olympic Games.
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