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≡ THE BIG PICTURE ≡
Before last week’s 73rd Congress of the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM), Rob Stull was a two-time Olympian and head of the USA Pentathlon national federation.
Now he’s the UIPM President and responsible for taking the sport forward after Klaus Schormann (GER) exited the federation presidency after 31 years. Modern pentathlon barely made it onto the program of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles after replacing riding with obstacle racing, at the behest of the International Olympic Committee.
In a Thursday morning online session with reporters, Stull is looking forward to a bright future for the sport:
“Absolutely it’s not a rescue operation. In fact … what I tell people is, I don’t look at our sport defensively. As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been involved for, you know, 40-plus years; there have been challenges. And I acknowledge that.
“However, I do not look at our current position in a defensive mode at all. In fact, we’re quite the opposite. It’s very much an offensive action in terms of building the sport, growing the sport, new audiences.
“Don’t forget, pentathlon is five disciplines. So we have a new fifth discipline [obstacle] which is 20% of the sport. But certainly not everything. … I’ve got a background in a lot of other things and we’re excited about all of it.
“So what I’m hoping to see is what we saw in Paris, but even elevated, if you can imagine. [Paris] was just so exciting.”
As for Los Angeles, no venue has been announced for modern pentathlon, but it’s a priority for Stull:
“I have some ideas that are that are exciting. I want to try very hard for that iconic venue, right? That’s the thing. I want to deliver on that. It was a campaign promise. I met with the LA28 leadership in Paris. It was wonderful. The folks who came out from LA28, they brought their whole team out to pentathlon, so they saw, they saw what it can be.”
No, the Hollywood sign is not available as a venue.
Asked about the future of obstacle events to be added as a part of the Olympic modern pentathlon program, Stull explained he is focused on the here and now:
“My job is to take the road to L.A. 2028. Paris was a huge success for, I would say, probably everybody, but certainly for pentathlon. And, boy, the numbers were off the charts and so that bar has been raised and set, and we need to meet and exceed that in the modern pentathlon. Beyond that, my crystal ball is cloudy; I don’t know what it’s going to say.”
Stull was always doing multiple things as an athlete – he made the 1988 U.S. Olympic Team in both fencing and pentathlon – and was on the board of World Obstacle as late as 2021, in addition to being head of USA Pentathlon. He explained his initial interest in obstacle was related to the future of pentathlon:
“Well, my beginnings in obstacle really had nothing to do with where it is today.
“What I was looking for was, pentathlon, as you know, founded by [Pierre] de Coubertin – you all know the history, I’m sure – it wasn’t designed as a mass-participation event. initially. And so I was looking for something that would add that mass participation element to it.
“And I found obstacle and it fit the Coubertin narrative, and that was literally a way to build the sport, to find a way to get to a lot of kids and find that very few, that very narrow margin of individuals that want to continue on into a true multi-sport event which modern pentathlon is. It’s really as a recruiting tool, that’s that’s how it happened.”
Stull was also asked about the future of the UIPM and all of the drama that has surrounded the sport since the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and the horse-hitting incident that ended up challenging its place on the Olympic program and eventually changing the nature of the sport itself. He was positive about what’s next:
“[O]ne of the exciting things that come out of the Congress was the fact that we turned over, you know, nearly half the board. And so we have a bunch of new faces – not necessarily new to the sport, of course – but new to the Executive Board. And that’s a very exciting thing. …
“[T]he people that are involved, I think, are going to [be] insisting on transparency, insisting on better governance.”
Stull said he was not yet aware of what increase the federation may receive from the International Olympic Committee in terms of a television rights share, a key opportunity for more resources for the UIPM looking forward to 2028. It received $12.98 million for both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
Modern pentathlon has been the smallest sport on the Olympic program for some time, and Schormann’s major achievement in 31 years in office was to maintain its place in the Games. Stull now has the challenge of trying to go beyond that narrative. It won’t be easy, but he is enthusiastic to try.
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