London 2012 Olympics: The Modern Pentathlon and the use of Laser Guns
The sport of pentathlon is a very interesting one in the Olympic Games. It consists of five different events; hence the name. The events that are covered in the discipline are running, shooting, swimming, fencing and show jumping. It is a strange combination of five sports because they really do not have anything in common with each other. Maybe running and swimming are both very physical sports, but then there is shooting, which is a sport based on hand eye coordination, fencing, which requires a person to have good swordsmanship and finally show jumping, which is a sport featuring an animal. This strange sport now will feature laser guns instead of real guns and so has suddenly became even stranger.
The pentathlon seems to have its origins in warfare. It was introduced in the 18th Olympiad in 708 BC. It was initially used as a way for the Spartans to train their soldiers for battle. In those days, the sport consisted of the following five events; running the length of the stadium, jumping, throwing the discus, throwing the spear and wrestling. The modern version of the games was introduced during the Olympic Games of 1912, which took place in Stockholm. The modern version revived the spirit of its ancient counterpart. The modern events were running, swimming, pistol shooting, fencing and horse riding. Over time, the horse riding became show jumping and now the pistol shooting part has become laser gun shooting instead. As a concept in ancient times, it makes sense because of the sports involved; the reason was to train soldiers for warfare and it became a sport. The modern version is a little harder to understand, because no one uses these skills in warfare anymore except for maybe shooting.
The first change that took place in modern pentathlon a few years ago was when in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the running and shooting portions of the sport were combined to create a sort of run/shoot finale. This new change will see the shooting part of it now take part with laser guns instead of pistols. People probably had a hard enough time shooting the guns while running; now they will need to adapt their whole training regime and shooting style to cope with the new guns. A lot of people have praised the new guns, which will be introduced in the 2012 Olympics after being tested at the Youth Olympics. The new guns, they say, will allow the competition to be staged at numerous more venues and it will make the whole sport safer in the process. At the moment, athletes use air pistols that have replaced real guns. The laser guns will also reduce the cost of the event by two-thirds. With the added safety of these new laser guns, the competition will be able to be held in parks and shopping malls. Although, why anyone would want to stage a pentathlon event in a shopping mall? The new guns have also been approved by the honorary president of the sport, Prince Albert of Monaco. He thinks it is a great improvement and the laser guns can now be carried onto aeroplanes as well.
The new laser gun does have its critics though. A lot of fans of the sport are saying that the new guns will not have the same effect as the air pistols, because the weight and feel of laser guns will be different. Also, since laser guns will have no recoil, they will be harder to shoot. The final problem with the guns is the fact that a bullet or pellet travels very differently to a beam of light and so the whole training regime of the athletes will have to change. Changing the guns now will not give athletes enough time to get to train with the new laser guns, get comfortable with them and learn how to adjust shooting with them.
This odd sport of having five events in one larger event has just become stranger. It seems health and safety rules and regulations have won the day again. Even though they are a very good thing sometimes, they seem to have completely ruined the sport of pentathlon. We will have to wait and see how this affects the 2012 Games in London and whether or not the event feels and looks the same or if it is totally different.
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