Pentathlon dates back to the ancient Games of 708 B.C., but it resembled what we now know as decathlon and heptathlon.
"Modern" pentathlon was first introduced at the Stockholm Games in 1912. The five events -- shooting, fencing, swimming, riding and running -- were instituted by the Swedish Olympic Committee and have remained the same. Sweden dominated the event for the first half of the 20th Century and the only outsider to challenge them in 1912 was a 26-year-old U.S. army lieutenant named George Patton. And why didn't Patton bring the gold home? He couldn't shoot straight.
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the Frenchman who revived the modern-day Olympics, felt the reinstatement of the event would help world relations, and insure peace, if soldiers of the world could participate in friendly competition.