The Military Pentathlon Celebrates its 50^th Anniversary With Great Pomp and Ceremony!

It was assuredly the most eagerly awaited World Military Championship in 2002. Indeed, in the middle of a Dutch summer that had the good taste of sparing us for a week, the 50^th World Military Pentathlon Championship was held-and celebrated-in Schaarsbergen, a Dutch town that had already hosted the World Military Fencing championship in 1997. The choice was judicious, as was the decision to hand over to the Dutch delegation the keys to the organisation of jubilee celebrations that will undoubtedly live on in the hearts and memories of all present, spectators and competitors alike! The success of such an undertaking rests first and foremost on close synergies between all players and their respective competencies. The successful alchemy of superbly organised Dutch Armed Forces, a national delegation that is renown for its competence and a Technical Committee for the Military Pentathlon that is wonderfully structured and masterminded by a most dynamic President supported by staff who know CISM and/or their discipline like the back of their hand, all led to a universally-praised display of fireworks.

The Military Pentathlon is the sport that probably best embodies CISM’s body and soul. First because it has evolved apace with our organisation since its foundation, second because it personifies its motto (Friendship Through Sport), third because it is spectacular and the athletes who enter military pentathlon competitions are magnificently trained, and fourth because it advertises our organisation’s specific military features.

Schaarsbergen was also the occasion to celebrate former military pentathlon world champions. Indeed eleven of them had taken the trip to The Netherlands, among whom Hartmut Nienaber, Mr Military Pentathlon-with ten individual titles-whose remarkable achievements were the subject of an exhibition put together thanks to the priceless contribution of Marcus Pucher, the son of You-Know-Whom and a former military pentathlete himself. The exhibition, which told the history of the discipline, welcomed many visitors and was a success. A number of former Presidents of the Technical Committee for Military Pentathlon were also present, including General Arthur Zechner-who, needless to recall, also served as President of CISM-, Colonel Hans-Georg Seitz and Colonel Pilot-also a former CISM Secretary General. The current President, Colonel Gola, and his Secretary General, Colonel Robert Eggermont, were in attendance too.

So, top brass only, for a magnificent event whose sporting aspects are reported opposite, and the celebration of an anniversary that will certainly go down in our organisation’s history as a momentous occasion. A round of applause is in order for all contributors, as well as a special word of thanks to the Dutch delegation who built a new obstacle track and course in record time and ensured that all the infrastructure required for the organisation of this jubilee was available on time!

Fifteen Years Later!

Fifteen years! It took fifteen years for the world military pentathlon title to go back to Europe, fifteen years during which Chinese and Brazilian pentathletes alternatively won the championship. Austrian marvel Stefano Palma put an end to a period of European hardship that was all the more difficult to swallow because it followed the Nienaber period, named after the German pentathlon legend who won an incredible ten individual titles.
Twenty-two year-old Corporal Palma from Ezendorf bei Weiss bagged his win after a breathtaking suspense. A very high standard was set during the first event: two pentathletes-Germany’s Marco Kallmeier and Turkey’s Yasin Tas-shot to perfection (200/200), thereby equaling the world record. In his best event, the obstacle race, Austria’s Stefano Palma finished second-behind this military pentathlon’s other revelation, Norway’s Øystein Sylta-and took the lead overall, never to relinquish it again. This he did in the face of unrelenting opposition by China’s He Shugan (already second in last year’s World Military Pentathlon championship in Arlon, Belgium). Following the obstacle swimming and grenade throwing rounds, the Chinese was only trailing by 5.4 points, which translated into Palma’s 5”40 lead at the start of the final event, the cross-country race. The Chinese closed the gap quite rapidly but overtaxed himself in the process and could not resist the new military world champion’s final rush. With a total of 5,545.4 points, Palma is quite far from Nienaber’s world record (5,682.1 points), which he set back in 1980! He Shugan and fellow countryman Liu Wei took second and third respectively, beating Norway’s Øystein Sylta to the podium by a hair! As for defending military world champion Carlos Alberto Silva (Brazil), he finished a modest 10th.

China found solace with team gold, while Austria and Brazil bagged silver and bronze and the obstacle race relay went to Turkey ahead of Austria and Belarus. Quite a wake up call for Europe in Schaarbergen!

The women’s military pentathlon was the same story as usual, with a Chinese-only individual podium: Wang Ying, Tian Linna and defending champion Xu Lei. Of course, the same Chinese ladies bagged the team title. They also won the obstacle race relay. In the absence of its most serious rival, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, China outperformed the opposition by a vast margin, despite the efforts of the Norwegian team led by Gunhild Berntsen (fourth individually and clearly back to top condition) and the Russians who, despite climbing down one step of the team podium compared to last year in Arlon, are making progress in terms of point performance. One final world to underscore the new women’s world record set by China’s Tian Linna in the obstacle race (2:13.6), improving her own record by fully three tenths of a second.

Marc Vandenplas (CISM)