2024 New Year’s Message from USA Pentathlon Multisport

It is our hope that this New year’s message from USA Pentathlon Multisport to our community finds you and yours well and having enjoyed the joy of the holiday season. For those of us in the Olympic movement, time is measured in quadrennials, the four-year periods between Games. So as the calendar turns to 2024, the Olympic Games of Tokyo 2020 are now nearly four years ago, but only one quadrennial has passed. In that time so much has happened, in our sport, in our lives and in the world. As is often said, the turning of the year is the turning of a page, a new chapter, a new day, and for the optimist, one of hope and opportunity. One of these opportunities is the chance to reflect on our past and plan for our future.

 With COVID fully behind us our team is preparing for what is poised to be the greatest Olympic Games experience in memory, perhaps ever in history, the Games of Paris 2024. There are many reasons for these great expectations, including the problems the past two Games faced, the Zyka virus and social disruptions of Rio 2016 and of course the Tokyo, “COVID” Games of 2021. The modern sports world is ready to be welcomed by the city of Light and we have great hopes that these Games will bathe our planet and nation in a beacon of enthusiasm, passion and Olympic values, which is why the Olympic Games of Paris hold so much promise. NBC has proposed an unprecedented broadcast schedule and we hope that you will be able to share the experience of the Games with the athletes on the field of play.  

Since the Tokyo Games, our sport has gone through our own renaissance and emerged as a new Pentathlon blessed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). In recognition of the changing times, the IOC demanded that all Olympic sports adapt to the current environment and that each sport must be attractive to today’s youth and be accessible for participation in all corners of the globe. Though part of the inseparable fabric of the history of the Games, Pentathlon heeded the IOC’s mandate and has added Ninja style Obstacle racing as a replacement for the equestrian showjumping event following the Paris 2024 Games. Of course this was not an easy decision. But the UIPM believes and the IOC agreed that this change will lower costs, allow for global accessibility, ensure fairness, retain the integrity and narrative of the founder of our sport and the Modern Olympic Games, Baron DeCoubertin, while attracting the youth of the world.  These are exciting times as we begin the road to Los Angeles, 2028, particularly for USA Pentathlon Multisport who will be the host National Federation of those Games with the debut of Ninja Obstacle racing as the newest of the five disciplines of the sport of Coubertin.

For Paris 2024, we have already qualified one athlete, Jessica Davis of New York to represent Team USA. Jessica qualified through her outstanding performances in the Pan American Games of Santiago, Chile in October of this year and where Brendan Anderson and Tristan Bell also earned a silver medal in the men’s relay. We have a team of talented athletes who will begin competing for the remaining Olympic places through points earned in the 2024 World Cups leading to the Paris Games. As of this writing, the final places have yet to be decided.

These athletes have a chance to achieve their Olympic dream because of their dedication and resilience. Pentathlon has been challenged to receive adequate athletic performance funding from the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee. They have limited resources and many demands. Therefore, we rely on the generosity of volunteers and supporters – our coaches and staff, parents and families, board members and fans – people like you who contribute their time and precious resources. For this, we sincerely thank you.

Looking to the future, beyond Paris, the addition and approval by the IOC of Obstacle racing as our new fifth discipline for LA2028 offers exciting possibilities to widen our base of athletes through integration with new multisport communities and presents us with potential new commercial opportunities that can allow us to become self-sufficient and function independently, providing benefits and opportunities for our athletes without dependence on institutional funding. These are exciting times, and our success will depend on hardwork, experience and dedication – the same skill sets that created this opportunity. Is this the Pentathlon of the past? No, it is the Pentathlon of the future and it remains the Pentathlon of Coubertin, the test of the complete athlete, the modern-day complete athlete—maintaining the vision of Coubertin was important to the IOC and the UIPM in their deliberations. 2023 was our first year of competition with our new discipline at the Youth and Junior level, highlighted by the enthusiastic reception of these competitions by our youth, the next generation of Olympians.

On October 16, when the IOC announced that Modern Pentathlon would be included on the program for Los Angeles 2028, a new dawn broke for the future of American athletes who have the skills, the desire and courage to pursue their dreams to represent the United States in international competition and ultimately the Olympic Games. This great success was achieved by a team of dedicated individuals. You provided the means for success.  We thank you for your thoughtful and meaningful contributions to the efforts of Modern Pentathlon in the USA to date and humbly issue a call for action to ask you for your help moving USA Pentathlon Multisport forward towards our new and bright future. We wish you all a healthy, happy and successful 2024.