Individual, Men

Very little was written about the 1920 modern pentathlon in the newspapers and sporting journals and, thus, other than the results, we know little about the competition. Sweden dominated the event. Sweden’s Erik de Laval won the first event, the shooting, but after the second event, swimming, the lead was taken by his teammate, Gösta Runö. Their countryman Gustaf Dyrssen took the lead after the fencing competition and held it throughout to win quite easily. In addition to his gold medal, he was awarded possession of the Challenge Prize that had been donated by Baron Pierre de Coubertin. The United States’ Robert Sears was in third place after three events, but faltered in the riding and cross-country running, and finished eighth. The medals were taken by the above three Swedes. There was no team competition but, had there been, Sweden would have had a perfect score as they swept the first four places.