A pentathlon is an athletic competition where each competitor performs five different events, testing a wide range of skills and abilities. The word comes from Greek: pente means five and athlon means contest.

The most famous version is the modern pentathlon, created for the Olympics in 1912. It includes fencing, swimming, horseback riding, running, and pistol shooting. These five events were chosen because they supposedly represented the skills a military courier might need: fighting an enemy soldier with a sword, swimming across a river, riding an unfamiliar horse, and shooting and running to deliver an urgent message. Today's modern pentathletes are remarkable all-around athletes who train in five completely different sports.

The ancient Greeks also had a pentathlon in their original Olympic Games, with discus throw, javelin throw, long jump, running, and wrestling. Track and field also has events called the pentathlon (for women) and decathlon (ten events, for men) that test athletes across multiple running, jumping, and throwing competitions.

What makes any pentathlon challenging is that you can't just be great at one thing. You need to develop competence across very different skills, and your final score combines your performance in all five events.