U.S. Olympic Pentathlon Team

The modern pentathlon is a multi-faceted and challenging competition made up of five events  in one day. Athletes compete in pistol shooting, epee fencing, swimming, equestrian show jumping and cross-country running. According to Modern-Pentathlon.com, competitors earn points for their performance in the first four events, and those points determine the starting order for the cross-country race.

The sport has been on the Olympic roster since 1912, and is considered by many to be the “true Olympic sport.”

The four athletes (two men and two women) representing the U.S. this year are:

Sam Sacksen (Somerset, Penn.)

Eli Bremer (Monument, Colo.)

Sheila Taormina (Livonia, Mich.)

Margaux Isaksen (Fayetteville, Ark.)

Head coach Janusz Peciak is leading the American team for the sixth straight Olympic games.

To learn more about the pentathlon, go to the Team USA Web site.. If you want to see all U.S. Olympic qualifiers in every sport for the Beijing games, start your search on the official U.S. Olympics page. To learn more of the history of the modern pentathlon in the Olympics, go to the Olympic games site, or the Beijing games site.