 Scoring
Points are added or subtracted against a par of 1,000 points
for each event except equestrian, which has a maximum of
1,100. The athlete with the highest overall point total after
the five events wins the gold medal. The team score consists of the scores
of the top three athletes from each nation.
Competition
All five events—shooting, fencing, swimming, equestrian, and running,
in that order—are contested in one day. All five disciplines are the
same for men and women and are held in the same order. The shooting competition
has the athletes fire 20 shots at targets 10 meters away using, 4.5mm pistols.
Athletes have 40 seconds to fire each shot, which is worth 10 target points.
A perfect score is 200 target points. Fencing competitors use épée
swords in bouts of no more than one minute. The winner of a bout is the first
to score a hit in the target area, which is the whole body. An electronic tip
at the end of the sword registers hits. If there are no hits, both fencers
lose. Scoring is based on the percentage of wins. In the swimming competition,
athletes swim a 200-meter freestyle. Point totals are based on times, and swimmers
are placed in heats and lanes based on their personal best times from the preceding
season. The show-jumping equestrian event requires the athletes to ride an
unfamiliar horse over an unfamiliar 350-400-meter course that has twelve jumps.
Horses ridden are drawn by lot from a pool of one horse for every two competitors.
The athlete with the highest cumulative point total from the first three events
has first draw of the horses and rides first. The 3,000-meter run is the final
event of the daylong competition. The leader through the first four events
starts first, and this staggered start is achieved by converting every two-point
differential in the total score of the first four events into a half-second
difference. The order in which the athletes finish in the run determines the
final standings.
News, History,
and Fast Facts
More sports
General Sports Links
Olympians will compete in dozens of sports this summer. Even though Gateway
to the Summer Games can't feature them all, you can learn about each and
every one by visiting the sites listed below.
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