UIPM Secretary General’s Message: Pentathlon is antifragile!

Modern Pentathlon was high-born, founded by the man who revived the entire Olympic movement. But in the era that we now regard as “modern”, the sport struggled to survive due to complex features that only suited the elite, excluding everyone else.

You might have heard many times of Pentathlon’s ‘survival games’ in the Olympic movement… each time we were on the edge and faced the risk of a cut by the IOC, again due to the sport’s inaccessibility with low numbers at most areas, especially its participation and audience.

If it sounds terrible, what we have gone through, it means you could also imagine that the organisation never gave up on its own evolution, in order to be more accessible, understandable and attractive for youth and aligned with contemporary trends.

In addition, the sport never felt safe, never felt it could enjoy a rest from existential pressure. In other words, constantly preparing to face risky and perilous situations became part of our nature, regardless of whether we are actually safe in the end…

That is the definition of antifragile, a concept introduced by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his book, Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder. It is tiring, but every effort has been worthwhile from the beginning to nowadays…

With new IOC leadership, can we rest assured about our status in future Games, or think we are already great enough? Even if we choose to believe so, not yet, not until all numbers could justify the claim.

We should be proud that Pentathlon is a firm and tenacious sport.

But we shouldn’t be satisfied about where the sport is today, we haven’t reached its thriving moment, not until we can prove it in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, and even before that, to be accepted by the IOC for Brisbane 2032 next year.

What a strange and, again, stressful moment. But maybe let’s view it differently: what a wonderful opportunity we have to move faster and more aggressively in line with 2030s audiences.

Where and how do we start, or continue what we have done?

Will come back in the next edition…