My point was about the utter anachronism of gentlemanly pursuits. The Olympics wants to celebrate its history and sweep away the concepts that formed and were part of the early Games. The Games started in the imperialist era when western civilization meant white supremacy and the choice of events favored people brought up in Europe and North America. The cult of the amateur, which was written into the rules for the games, was there to exclude the working classes.
In order to train for the pentathlon a young man would have to own a horse, a sword, and a pistol and he would need to have the leisure time to train with them. He would need to live near the ocean or a lake or have access to a then rare swimming pool to train. In the early years the modern pentathlon was structured to exclude all but a tiny number of young wealthy men from participating. I have no idea how good the early participants were as athletes. I assume their privilege got them further than their talents. The sport has continued in the modern era and today’s pentathletes are the same as other athletes with sponsors and training facilities. I don’t hold them to be the gentlemen of the previous exclusionary era and if their federation wants to update their event it’s fine with me. I just had an affinity for the anachronism of the modern pentathlon and what that meant. On Wed, Jun 29, 2022 at 1:12 PM M-D November <[email protected]> wrote: > I don't think I've ever watched Modern Pentathlon in my life, but I might > start if Ninja gets added in place of equestrian. I see Tom's point about > 'gentlemanly pursuits', but it's the 21st century, for Brak's sake. Ninja > is multi-disciplinary, requires a good balance of cardio, upper body & > lower body strength...and NBC's certainly not going to complain, as long as > they're producing ANW. (Look for Matt & Akbar, presumably, to handle the > call, should this come to pass.) > > On Tuesday, June 28, 2022 at 7:01:19 PM UTC-4 Tom Wolper wrote: > >> The modern pentathlon is my favorite Olympic event that I never watch. >> The competition was created by taking the disciplines a gentleman was >> expected to be proficient at: shooting a pistol, fencing, riding a horse, >> swimming, and running. Some part of me just loves the fact that over a >> century later, with all of the changes in assumption of what masculinity is >> about, as well as the class assumptions about a gentleman, the event still >> exists. I did watch a bit of it in the previous summer Olympics but it >> confounded my expectations by being too modern. >> >> If they replace equestrian with an obstacle course I will feel a bit of >> loss at the end of gentlemanly proficiency but it’s not like I follow the >> sport or will start or stop watching the competitions. >> >> On Tue, Jun 28, 2022 at 5:43 PM Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> I vote for the course from Takeshi’s Castle, aka MXC. >>> >>> https://youtu.be/vZMd_PSEuRk >>> >>> >>> On Tue, Jun 28, 2022 at 2:28 PM 'Bob Jersey' via TVorNotTV < >>> [email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> Modern pentathlon, which has been contested in the Summer Games since >>>> 1912, suffered a black eye when an equestrian coach at the Tokyo Games >>>> punched a pentathlete's horse... while other changes to the sport are being >>>> considered, today was scheduled to feature a test run of a "NW" course in >>>> the capital city of Turkey, involving past show competitors and >>>> pentathletes, to ostensibly be seen by the sport's federation... >>>> >>>> >>>> https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/ninja-warrior-los-angeles-2028-summer-olympics-1235172248/ >>>> (link) >>>> >>>> >>>> B >>>> >>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>> Groups "TVorNotTV" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>> an email to [email protected]. >>>> To view this discussion on the web visit >>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/01d3d8cb-8439-4fe4-ae72-c82044b61559n%40googlegroups.com >>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/01d3d8cb-8439-4fe4-ae72-c82044b61559n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>>> . >>>> >>> -- >>> Kevin M. 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