Women's pentathlon
The Women's pentathlon is an athletics contest consisting of five events. The word pentathlon is derived from the Greek pente (five) and athlon (contest).
History
The first women's pentathlon was introduced at the fourth Women's World Games 1934 in London. The first modern women's pentathlon was contested in the Olympics from 1964 until 1980 (five editions), and it was replaced in the 1984 Summer Olympics with the heptathlon. The event was contested in the European Athletics Championships from 1950 to 1978. However, it has never been contested at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics—since that competition's inception in 1983, the heptathlon has always been contested.
Women's pentathlon had a different set of events than the ancient Olympic pentathlon. The events were shot put, high jump, a hurdling race, sprint and long jump. Pentathlon is sometimes contested instead of heptathlon even today because of facility limitations. Indoor arenas are incapable of hosting events such as the javelin throw. The events in indoor pentathlon are 60 metre hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump and 800 metres. The current world record belongs to Nataliya Dobrynska, who scored 5013 points on 9 March 2012 at the World Indoor Championships held in Istanbul.
The pentathlon is also common in high school athletics. It is simply a smaller version of the decathlon or a heptathlon. For girls, it is 100 m high hurdles, long jump, shot put, high jump, and an 800 m run. The pentathlon is used because it is less stressful on the athletes than a full multi and because many high school meets only last one day, it allows the event to be contested in the time limit.
Indoor women's pentathlon
All-time top ten athletes
World record progression
| Athlete | Country | Points | Event results | Location | Date |
| Sabine John |  East Germany | 4768 | 8.16 s, 1.74 m, 14.76 m, 6.61 m, 2:15.63 | Moscow, Soviet Union | 15 February 1985 |
| Irina Belova |  Russia | 4991 | 8.22 s, 1.93 m, 13.25 m, 6.67 m, 2:10.26 | Berlin, Germany | 15 February 1992 |
| Nataliya Dobrynska |  Ukraine | 5013 | 8.38 s, 1.84 m, 16.51 m, 6.57 m, 2:11.15 | Istanbul, Turkey | 9 March 2012 |
World records compared with pentathlon bests
Olympic medalists
See also
Notes and references
External links
Katarina Johnson-Thompson (GBR) 
Carolina Klüft (SWE) 
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Irina Press (URS)
Ingrid Becker (FRG)
Liese Prokop (AUT)
Annamária Tóth (HUN)
Heide Rosendahl (FRG)