1959-60

MODERN PENTATHLON
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winner, who had to compete in all events, was declared the Victor
of the Games.
It was not until the V Olympiad of the present series that a Modern
Pentathlon competition was included for the first time at Stockholm
in 1912. The Olympic Committee desired to include in the Games
a competition which would embody all the qualities of a modern
sportsman. In this competition the athlete is required to ride a
horse across country, fence with the epee, shoot with a pistol requir-
ing the greatest precision, swim 330 yards and conclude by running
2 miles across country—all this in the space of five days.
At Stockholm Great Britain's best competitor, R. E. Cliverd,
was placed 9th, and a full team has always been entered at every
Olympiad since 1912 in which our most outstanding successes have
been Vokins 7th at Paris in 1924, Turquand Young 6th in Amster-
dam in 1928, and Legard 8th at Los Angeles in 1932•
The Modern Pentathlon Association of Great Britain was formed
in 1923. One of the main objects was, and still is, to encourage the
competition and ensure that Great Britain is well and properly
represented at the Olympic Games. In 1948 the Modern Pentathlon
International Union was formed and since then an international
competition has been held annually in each non-Olympic year.
In these Championships Cobley of Great Britain was 6th at Stock-
holm in 1957 when the British team was awarded the trophy for the
best improved team of the year.
In 1929 the British Olympic Association presented the Modern
Pentathlon Association with the cup which had been presented to
them by the Rev. R. S. de Courcy Laffan in 19o8, and bequeathed
by him to the B.O.A. for any purpose connected with the Games
which they thought fit. The Pentathlon Association decided to
use this cup as a Challenge Cup for a Pentathlon Team Competition,
and from 1929 the competition has been held on both team and indi-
vidual lines, a Challenge Cup having been presented by Col. G. N.
Dyer, C.B.E., D.S.O. for the best individual competitor.
Later, a second Individual Trophy was presented in memory
of the late Major I.E. F. Campbell, D.C.L.I. This cup is awarded
to the Champion Cadet of the year.
In
1949
His Majesty The King of the Hellenes expressed a
personal desire to mark the departure of British Troops from
Greece by offering the British Army a Greek Shield which would
bear the names of Armv Formations and their Commanders who
served in Greece and Crete during the
1939-45
war.
The Army Council in accepting the Trophy agreed that it should
be competed for annually during the Modern Pentathlon Champion-
ships and that it should be awarded to the Army Team gaining
the highest place in the competition. Teams from Australia and
New Zealand Forces are entitled to compete.
The Trophy was received in 195z and presented for the first time
at the Modern Pentathlon Championships of Great Britain in
that year.
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