Olympic Pentathlon: And you thought eventers were crazy

Not only do Olympic pentathletes have to swim, shoot, fence and run, they also have to get on a horse they’ve never ridden before and jump a 3’9″ course.

According to pentathalon.org, “Athletes compete on horses provided by the organizers, which are selected from a random draw. For warm-up and preparation purposes, athletes are allowed to ride their allocated horse for 20 minutes and to have up to 5 trial jumps in the warm-up arena provided.”

Oh, and did we mention that they have to complete all five events in the same day? [London Olympic Pentathlon Schedule]

As you’d probably guess, under these circumstances things don’t always go as planned. Here’s a video compilation of pentathlon equestrian fails from the Games in Beijing, with a bit of context by British Olympic bronze medal-winning pentathlete Georgina Harland.

Go Olympics.