The modern pentathlon may well be the most difficult Olympic sport you’ve never heard of.
Modern pentathlon is a rigorous contest of five disciplines: fencing, swimming, riding, running and shooting. It’s the only sport developed specifically for the Games, created by Baron Pierre DeCubertin, the founder of the Games, as a direct link to the pentathlon of ancient Greece. DeCubertin wanted an event to celebrate what he considered the most rounded of athletes.
“You’re not only physically strong but incredibly mentally strong as well,” U.S. pentathlete Margaux Isaksen told Wired. “It’s incredibly difficult.”
Isaksen is making her second appearance at the Olympics, having started her pentathlon career in 2005. She grew up in Arkansas, where she was an equestrian and cross-country runner. She veered toward the pentathlon when her sister took up fencing and mom convinced her to tag along. In another serendipitous turn, Isaksen’s fencing coach had a daughter who was a pentathlete and suggested she give it a try. Just a few weeks later Isaksen was in a Colorado Springs training camp. She’d never held a gun and couldn’t do a flip turn in a pool.
Now she is among our most promising pentathletes. Isaksen won gold at the Pan American Games and was crowned the Champion of Champions in 2011. Illness took a toll on her season — she failed to make the World Cup No. 3 and the World Championships Final — but she’s came back to take fifth at the Kremlin Cup.
“Margaux still has a lot of improving to do if she hopes to win a medal in London,” said Matt Pound of the Union International de Pentathlon Moderne in Monaco. “However, if she can fence well and ride well and start in the top 10, anything is possible, as she is one of the quickest runners in pentathlon.”
Makes sense, given that running is her favorite event.
“The majority of girls will say they will not want Margaux chasing them at Greenwich Park,” Pound said.
Wired caught up with Isaksen to talk about her sport and her incredibly cool laser pistol.
