Modern Pentathlon

Invented by Pierre de Coubertin, the Modern Pentathlon tests a 19th-century soldier with five events in one day: fencing (epee, one-touch), swimming (200m freestyle), show jumping (random horse drawn, 20 minutes to meet it), and a combined Laser Run (running + laser pistol shooting). The Laser Run is the decider: athletes run 800m, shoot 5 targets (misses = penalty lap), repeat four times (3200m total), making it not about being the best at one thing, but the least bad at five.