It was announced last week that the 2012 London Olympics will feature laser guns instead of an air pistol for the shooting portion of Modern Pentathlon. The announcement was made at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore by Union International de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) President Klaus Schormann.
Modern Pentathlon requires competitors to compete in running, fencing, shooting, swimming, and horse riding. The event was introduced to the Olympics by Baron Pierre de Coubertin to simulate the experience of a cavalry soldier behind enemy lines – riding a horse, fighting with sword and pistol, swimming, and running. One famous pentathlete from the past was General George S. Patton who competed in the event for the United States in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. He finished fifth overall in the event.
Over the years, the shooting portion of Modern Pentathlon has evolved from 25 meter ISSF rapid fire to 10 meter ISSF air pistol to combining shooting with running (like a biathlon).
In announcing the change, Schormann said:
Based on this new technology, all countries in the world can compete in our sport.
We can hold competitions in parks and even shopping malls. Safety issues will no longer be a big concern
Jim Shepherd of The Shooting Wire interviewed people with the US Shooting and the International Shooting Sports Federation abou these changes. They dislike the changes saying that it will take the external element out of the shooting competition as the pistol, pellet accuracy, and wind conditions will now be irrelevant. One went so far as to characterize it as “turning shooting into an arcade game.” They also view it as a threat to the shooting sports.
If safety is such a parmount concern for the UIPM, then I would suggest in addition to the laser guns that they hold the running event on treadmills so that competitors won’t breathe in polluted air, use a Wii for the horse riding and fencing competitions because horses are unpredicatable and can be dangerous, and finally use an endless pool to minimize the risk of drowning.
Hey, if video games get substituted for all of the events at the Olympics, then there won’t be any risks of anybody getting sports-related injuries, right?
Well, then again, I think there have already been some instances of kids developing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome from excessively playing video games, so maybe the Olympics should just be canceled altogether for safety’s sake.
Shhh, they might be listening!
U.S. Shooting should pretty clearly boycott such events.
Shouldn’t they?
A US boycott would be punishing the US athletes for political matters.
That having been said, this is boneheaded
We should send our team with phasers set to kill.
“We come in peace, shoot to kill”
A while back some IPSC shooters were trying to get IPSC competition added to the Olympics. They were rebuffed and were told that in 10 – 15 years, the Olympics will be gun-powder free. It looks like that is becoming a reality.
Ironically, the US might be pretty strong at laser shooting because the high numbers of kids playing video games. I’d probably try out, ammo is pretty darn expensive.
Honestly, there’s too many countries now who’s atheletes essentially can’t train for the firearms sports.
Tough. The use of real projectiles is what makes shooting a real sport.
Heaven knows replacing the crack of gunpowder with the pfft of airguns has already gone some distance to sever Olympic-type shooting from its traditional origins; from the romance and historical resonance of marksmanship.
This is a step too far. The sport will die if it goes this way. Who could possibly care about becoming the world’s best laser pointer? Might as well make Call of Duty 2 an Olympic sport.
We should boycott; simply walk away. Americans already have their own football, tougher and more action-packed than the rest of the world’s “football,” and it does just fine, thanks, in terms of spectator interest. We should go the same route with shooting. F the Olympics.