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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
pentathlon
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
modern pentathlon
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
modern
▪ However, when urine specimens were screened there were several positives in the modern pentathlon contest.
▪ There are newly available seats for two extra sessions of volleyball and individual portions of the five-sport modern pentathlon.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ But one thing de Courbertin certainly never fathomed when he was thinking up the pentathlon was its television appeal.
▪ He came into pentathlon through swimming, his strongest event - and is still struggling with the fencing.
▪ However, when urine specimens were screened there were several positives in the modern pentathlon contest.
▪ There are newly available seats for two extra sessions of volleyball and individual portions of the five-sport modern pentathlon.
▪ Thus, there are the five events of the pentathlon.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Pentathlon

Pentathlon \Pen*tath"lon\, n. [NL., fr. Gr. ?; ? five + ? a contest.] (Gr. Antiq.)

  1. A fivefold athletic performance peculiar to the great national games of the Greeks, including leaping, foot racing, wrestling, throwing the discus, and throwing the spear.

  2. In the modern Olympic Games, a composite contest made up of a running broad jump, throwing the javelin, a 200-meter run, throwing the discus, and a 1500-meter run.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
pentathlon

athletic contest of five events, 1852, from Greek pentathlon "the contest of five exercises," from pente "five" (see five) + athlon "prize, contest," of uncertain origin. Earlier in English in Latin form pentathlum (1706). The Greek version consisted of jumping, sprinting, discus and spear throwing, and wrestling. The modern version (1912) consists of horseback riding, fencing, shooting, swimming, and cross-country running.

Wiktionary
pentathlon

n. 1 An ancient athletics discipline, featuring five events: stadion, wrestling, long jump, javelin and discus 2 (context athletics English) modern pentathlon

WordNet
pentathlon

n. an athletic contest consisting of five different events

Wikipedia
Pentathlon

A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek: combining the words pente (five) and -athlon (competition) . The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of the Ancient Olympic Games. Five events were contested over one day for the Ancient Olympic pentathlon, starting with the long jump, javelin throwing, and discus throwing, followed by the stadion (a short foot race) and wrestling. Pentathletes were considered to be among the most skilled athletes, and their training was often part of military service—each of the five events in the pentathlon was thought to be useful in war or battle.

With the revival of the Olympic Games in the modern era, the pentathlon returned in two formats. The athletics pentathlon was a modern variation on the original events, with a competition over five track and field events. The modern pentathlon, invented by Pierre de Coubertin (father of the Modern Olympics), was a variation on the military aspect of the Ancient pentathlon. It focused on the skills required by a late-19th-century soldier, with competitions in shooting, swimming, fencing, equestrianism, and cross country running.

A prominent aspect of modern pentathlons is the point system, whereby each competitor is awarded a certain number of points based on their performance in each specific event. The overall winner is the competitor with the highest point total at the end of the five pentathlon events.

Pentathlon (film)

Pentathlon is a 1994 American action thriller film directed by Bruce Malmuth and starring Dolph Lundgren as an East German Olympic gold medalist pentathlete on the run from a lethal coach ( David Soul).

Pentathlon (disambiguation)

A pentathlon is any sporting competition including five events.

Pentathlon may refer to:

Usage examples of "pentathlon".

Nevertheless many important old monuments remain from this period, including the Metropolis, the Pentathlon, Monticello, the Telethon, and the Tomb of Reebok.

The modern pentathlon was based on the skills needed by a military courier in the late nineteenth century-riding, running.