Pentathlon (Ancient), Men

Point-for-place scoring was used to determine the placements in this competition. The events and order were as follows: 1) standing broad [long] jump; 2) Greek-style discus throw; 3) javelin throw; 4) stade race [192 metres]; and 5) Greco-Roman wrestling. The top eight after three events advanced to the fourth event, and the top six after four events advanced to the Greco-Roman wrestling.

It was actually called the athletic pentathlum in 1906 and consisted of the events of the ancient Greek pentathlon: standing long jump; a stade race - or a race of one length of the stadium (circa 190 metres); the Greek style discus throw; the javelin throw; and finally, Greco-Roman wrestling. This had never been contested in modern times, but still it was easy to choose Martin Sheridan as the heavy favorite. However, on 26 April [13 April], Sheridan had injured his right leg when he tore it with his spikes while training for the jumping events, and, after finishing third in the standing jump portion of the pentathlon, he withdrew.

With Sheridan gone, it was anyone’s contest. The giant Hungarian István Mudin looked like a possible winner, as the events put a premium on strength. He led by one point after three events, with 16 points. But his running and jumping hampered him and, in the end, Sweden’s Hjalmar Mellander won through his consistency. His best finish in any event was third but he also never finished worse than seventh. In addition, he improved his placing in every event and, after trailing Mudin through three events, came on to win.