A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek: combining the words pente (five) and -athlon (competition). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of the Ancient Olympic Games. Five events were contested over one day for the Ancient Olympic pentathlon, starting with the long jump, javelin throwing, and discus throwing, followed by the stadion and wrestling. Pentathletes were considered to be among the most skilled athletes, and their training was often part of military service—each of the five events in the pentathlon was thought to be useful in war or battle.
Carolina Evelyn Klüft is a retired Swedish track and field athlete who competed in the heptathlon, pentathlon, long jump and triple jump. She was an Olympic Champion, having won the heptathlon title in 2004. She was also a three-time World heptathlon champion, World Indoor pentathlon champion, a two-time European heptathlon champion and a two-time European Indoor pentathlon champion. Klüft is the only athlete ever to win three consecutive world titles in the heptathlon. She was unbeaten in 22 heptathlon and pentathlon competitions from 2002 to 2007, her entire combined events career as a senior athlete, winning nine consecutive gold medals in major championships.
Kelly Jade Sotherton is a British former heptathlete, long jumper and relay runner. In the heptathlon she was the bronze medallist at the 2004 Summer Olympics and, following the disqualification of two other athletes, also at the 2008 Summer Olympics, as well as being part of the bronze medal-winning team in the Women's 4x400m relay at the 2008 Summer Olympics. As such she is one of only five women to win multiple medals in Olympic heptathlon. She also won a bronze at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics. Representing England, Sotherton is a one-time Commonwealth Games champion, as the heptathlon gold medallist at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
The pentathlon or women's pentathlon is a combined track and field event in which each woman competes in five separate events over one day. The distance or time for each event is converted to points via scoring tables, with the overall ranking determined by total points. Since 1949 the events have been sprint hurdling, high jump, shot put, long jump, and a flat race. The sprint hurdles distance was 80 m outdoors until 1969 and thereafter 100 m; in indoor pentathlon the distance is 60 m. The flat race was 200 m until 1976 and thereafter 800 m. In elite-level outdoor competition, the pentathlon was superseded in 1981 by the heptathlon, which has seven events, with both 200 m and 800 m, as well as the javelin throw. Pentathlon is still contested at school and masters level and indoors.
Mary Denise Rand, MBE is a British former track and field athlete. She won the long jump at the 1964 Summer Olympics by breaking the world record, the first British female to win an Olympic gold medal in track and field. Until Emma Finucane in 2024, she was the only British female athlete to win three medals in a single Games.
Great Britain, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. 204 competitors, 160 men and 44 women, took part in 124 events in 17 sports. British athletes have competed and won at least one gold medal in every Summer Olympic Games. Future Liberal Democrat leader Menzies Campbell represented Britain at the 200m.
Pamela Kilborn-Ryan, AM, MBE is an Australian former athlete who set world records as a hurdler. For three years, she was ranked as the world's top woman hurdler.
Enezenaide "Naide" do Rosário da Vera Cruz Gomes is a São Toméan-born Portuguese retired track and field athlete who competed in jumping, throwing, hurdling, and combined events. She is the 2004 World Indoor Champion in the pentathlon and the 2008 World Indoor Champion in the long jump. She is also the São Toméan record holder in nine disciplines and the Portuguese record holder in five disciplines. She notably improved the Portuguese record in women's long jump 14 times, raising it from 6.56 metres to 7.12 metres.
The Soviet Union (USSR) competed at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. 317 competitors, 254 men and 63 women, took part in 154 events in 19 sports.
Galina Petrovna Bystrova was a Soviet athlete. She competed in the 80 m hurdles at the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympics with the best achievement of fourth place in 1956. In 1964 she also took part in the newly introduced pentathlon event and won a bronze medal. She also won three European titles, two in the pentathlon and one in the hurdles (1958) and set three world records in these events. Domestically she won six national titles, in the pentathlon, hurdles and long jump.
Laurien Hoos is a Dutch former athlete mainly active at the heptathlon and as a hurdler.
Morgan Lake is a British high jumper. She won the silver medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and placed fourth at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Lake finished sixth in the 2017 World Championships in Athletics and fourth in the 2018 World Indoor Championships.
Combined events at the Summer Olympics have been contested in several formats at the multi-sport event. There are two combined track and field events in the current Olympic athletics programme: a men's decathlon and a women's heptathlon.
Janieve Russell is a Jamaican track and field athlete who competes mainly in the 400 metres hurdles and the 400 metres sprint. She won an Olympic bronze medal in the 4 × 400 m relay in Tokyo 2021, where she also finished fourth in the 400m hurdles final in a personal best of 53.08 secs. She is a four-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, winning the 400m hurdles title in 2018 and 2022, and the 4 × 400 m relay in 2014 and 2018. She has also won two relay silvers at the World Championships and a relay gold at the World Indoor Championships.
The women's heptathlon at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Beijing National Stadium on 22 and 23 August.
Valentina Nikolayevna Tikhomirova is a Russian former track and field athlete who competed in the women's pentathlon for the Soviet Union. She was the gold medallist at the 1966 European Athletics Championships and a five-time national pentathlon champion.
Denise Guénard (born Laborie; 13 January 1934 – 23 May 2017 at Saint-Maurice-the-Girard was a French athlete who specialized in the combined events.
Louise Alexander"Alix"Stevenson is a Scottish retired athlete. She competed for Great Britain in the women's long jump at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
Noor Vidts is a Belgian athlete competing in the combined events. She won the gold medal in the pentathlon at the 2022 and 2024 World Indoor Championships. Vidts won the bronze medal in the heptathlon at the 2024 Paris Olympics, having placed fourth in the event at the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021. She earned silver and bronze for the pentathlon at the 2021 and 2023 European Indoor Championships respectively.
Emma Oosterwegel is a Dutch track and field athlete competing in the combined events. She won the bronze medal in the heptathlon at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
