Sandra Heck

Modern pentathlon and the First World War: When athletes and soldiers met to practise martial manliness

In the nationalistic atmosphere of the early twentieth century, a nurturing medium for sports practising martial manliness abounded throughout Europe. This framework supported the invention of a new multi-disciplinary sport, aided by Baron Pierre de Coubertin himself: modern pentathlon. Though the idea of a new form of pentathlon was already born in 1894, it took 30 years, until Paris 1924, to establish modern pentathlon within the Olympic Games. This study is concerned with the reasons for that delay. It will be assessed whether the active military preparations around the First World War and the contemporary image of masculinity had a decisive influence on the early history of modern pentathlon. By including historical documents from the IOC archives in Lausanne, Switzerland, the research office for military history in Potsdam, Germany, and the LA84 Foundation in Los Angeles, USA, as well as literature on gender, military sport and Olympic history, this study offers an entirely new view on the early history of a sport that was born in an atmosphere of glorifying manliness and apparent militarism. The history of modern pentathlon thereby provides a particularly appropriate area for the analysis of connections between sport, militarism and masculinity. It was not by chance that the implementation of a combined sport, which included besides swimming and running the three military disciplines of shooting, fencing and horse riding, arose in a pre-war context. Though in 1912 the Great War had not yet begun, the awareness of an upcoming battle was rising and led to a higher attention to Coubertins almost forgotten assumption of a new sport. In 1924 the advantages were finally admitted on two sides: the army recruited modern pentathletes as future military officers; the sports community appointed skilled officers as successful competitors. Thus the lobby for an Olympic recognition of modern pentathlon was found.

Myth or Reality of the Revier Derby? Schalke 04 versus Borussia Dortmund (1947–2007)

For the Ruhr district, an urban area in the North-West of Germany, the meeting of the two most popular and successful football clubs in the region, Schalke 04 and Borussia Dortmund, has for years been a polarising, emotional and sensational sporting event. No where else in the country and in no other sport more than in football is the rivalry between the football clubs and its fans so strong still today. Is this so called Revier derby a constructed myth or real history? Considering the derbies in the regional print media with the help of a content analysis and facing them with sport and regional history show at least two things: from the 1930s till the 1970s a long period of friendly partnership existed between the two clubs. Later, the emotional derby character of the match increased while a general regional identity developed in the Ruhr district since the 1980s, and even more since the 1990s. The socio-economical crisis in the mining industry and the increasing violence in the football stadiums supported this trend. The claim of a ‘historical’ existence of the Revier derby traced back till the early period of the Revier football is hence a media-prone, artificially created myth.

Breaking Down the Sex Barrier: The Emancipation of Female Modern Pentathlon in West Germany (1967–1981)

Fencing, shooting, horse-riding, swimming and running – five good reasons for men to argue that women are wrong when asking to be modern pentathletes but also five good reasons for women to counter that they are definitely right. Even though as early as 1912 a British woman had asked to compete in the sport, another 69 years passed until the first female World Championships were held in London in 1981. This paper deals with womens struggle towards an equal participation in modern pentathlon. Whereas the development of mens modern pentathlon remained for the first 37 years exclusively within the Olympic domain, the female movement primary gained ground through regional and national activities. Germany was among the most active countries. After the president of the German Modern Pentathlon Federation had paved the way for womens participation by fighting for its administrative recognition at the end of the 1960s, the strength of female modern pentathlon slowly increased at home as well as abroad. However, men still stood against an equal sports practice of both sexes for more than a decade. The creation of female modern pentathlon World Championships in 1981 was finally not only a result of womens enthusiasm, tenacity and patience but also of mens concession to a female competency which could not be denied any longer.

Nature conservation versus event organisation: ‘Madmen's Diagonals’ on Reunion Island (1989–2014)

Organising an outdoor event in a venue which has been assigned as a National Park is subject to a far greater number of constraints than in a non-protected area. By using the example of the ultramarathon races across Reunion Island since 1989, this study aims at analysing the history of the events ecological policies with regard to the special vulnerability of the region, and the changes in status of the concerned landscapes and tourism strategies. The method embraces a study of the existing literature on the history of both the events organisation and the islands environmental policies over the past 24 years, combined with a press content analysis. The results demonstrate that the creation of a National Park in 2007 and the nomination of large parts of Reunion Island as UNESCO World Natural Heritage sites in 2010 indeed led to further nature conservation policies which were, from then on, followed empathically in order to harmonise ideas of nature conservation and event organisation.

A Sport for Everyone? Inclusion and Exclusion in the Organisation of the First Olympic Modern Pentathlon

The Olympic Games in Stockholm, 1912, were the first taking place without connection to a world exhibition. Thus, the sports competitions took centre stage. The modern pentathlon was new in the programme. Though the sport met Pierre de Coubertins ideological support and Viktor Balcks encouragement, its staging caused more problems than the organising committee originally expected: as hardly any pre-experiences with this competition existed, debates were frequent and agreements not always easily achieved. One of the greatest problem was related to the allowance of participants without own horse. Still 1 week before the competition started, the question of loan horses remained unsolved. At the same time, a womans participation request troubled the organisers.This research aims at exploring the work of the organising committee when planning and implementing the first Olympic modern pentathlon in 1912. It focuses on two aspects which best reflect the power relations in society at that time and thereby provide insights into the strength of socially conditioned images of class and gender orders at the beginning of the twentieth century. The research is mainly based on an analysis of historical material from the Archives of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne and from the National Archives in Stockholm.

Modern Pentathlon at the London 2012 Olympics: Between Traditional Heritage and Modern Changes for Survival

In London, in 2012, the modern pentathlon (fencing, swimming, horse riding, shooting and running) celebrated its centenary. In its 100 years of Olympic history several rule changes have taken place. Directly after its Olympic debut in Stockholm in 1912, the International Olympic Committee headed by Pierre de Coubertin evaluated the event and criticised the shortcomings between the supposed idea behind the sport and its implementation. After Coubertins death, the sport continued to develop; recently running and shooting have been joined in a so called combined event. In all cases, the presidents of the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) argued the associated rule changes by referring to the original idea of the modern pentathlon. The sports insecure future after the Games in Rio in 2016 provides sufficient reason to investigate the discrepancy between the marketing strategy of the UIPM and the ideological origins of the modern pentathlon. It finally allows an analysis of select historical rule changes that fitted the original idea behind the events and those that served purely modern strategies of survival. Thus, the topic also stands as an example of the policies of a contemporary international sports federation that uses (select parts of its) history and (invented) traditions as strong and successful marketing tools.