Home  Club Info  Competitions  Pentathlon         Multimedia    Links    Contact Us    Camps

Press Release

***

US Athletes Sheila Taormina and Eli Bremer triumph at

Highly Successful 2005 Pan American Championships

2004 ITU World Champion wins her first Modern Pentathlon competition

***

10 October 2005

On the global stage of Modern Pentathlon, although the Pan American region has been well represented in World Championships and has won a number of Team medals, no Pan American country outside of the US has been represented on the podium of the Individual Medallists to date.

However that could all change if the results from the 2005 Pan Am Championships are anything to go by. World class Modern Pentathlon returned to Buenos Aires for the first time since the Pan American Games, the very first ever edition, were held there in 1951. At that time it was only for men and few countries took part. 54 years later, 73 men and women athletes from 14 countries participated in the 2005 Pan American Championships from 4 to7 October.

Three-time Olympian Sheila Taormina (USA) won her modern pentathlon debut at the competition. The 36 year-old won gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games as a member of the 4x200-meter freestyle relay and also competed in triathlon at the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Olympic Games. The 2004 ITU World Champion ended her triathlon career recently to concentrate on Modern Pentathlon. Taormina, 36, combined a strong swim of 2:07 and run of 10:04 to win the title with 5704 points, only the 5^th woman athlete ever to have scored over 5700.

After the competition, Sheila Taormina said “I found the sport to be the most exciting and challenging that I have ever done. The athletes are first class, and the organization was fantastic. I am excited to be a part of this sport for years to come. The challenge will be in training and competing in five sports, after coming from a single sport (swimming) and then triathlon. I didn't think it could get more difficult, but I have found pentathlon to be a sport that will require more work than I have ever done. The three new sports for me, (shooting, fencing, and show jumping), are each unique and more fun than I ever dreamed they would be (I think that show jumping is my favorite).  I look forward to competing in Europe, where the sport is most popular”

Canada’s Monica Pinette, an experienced international athlete since a few years now and 2004 Olympian, won the Fence event and Pan American Silver with a total of 5500 MP points. Taking Bronze with 5384 points was a relative newcomer, Katia Rodriguez who just turned 20 years old a couple of weeks ago. For the Cuban athlete, this was only her 5^th international competition and certainly her best result so far. Mexico’s Mariana Dominguez won the Shoot with 1144 MP points and Argentina’s Gabriela Raute was the only athlete to achieve the perfect 1200 score in the Ride.

The Men’s competition saw a varied field of competitors, ranging in age and experience, the oldest competitor being 49 and the youngest just 19, with Olympians competing against athletes for whom this was their first international event.

Unlike his new team mate, USA’s Eli Bremer has competed in Modern Pentathlon for many years as part of the USAF World Class Athlete Program and was hired by NBC to be Olympic commentator at 2004 Olympics. Despite over 5 years of international competition, winning this year’s Pan American Championships is his best result so far. After the competition, in which he was also the fastest swimmer, he said:-

“It was very encouraging to see the growth of pentathlon in the Pan American region.  This was the biggest Pan Am Championships ever held and the quality of competition is getting better every year.  This was a much more challenging competition than in the years past and I look forward to near future when Pan American athletes are competing equally with athletes from the rest of the world.  This competition shows the growing popularity of pentathlon worldwide as there are so many talented juniors from countries never before competitive in pentathlon.”

With a total of 5436 MP points, Cristian Bustos of Chile took Silver Medal and at the same time, the title of 2005 South American Champion. His team mate Gonzalo Tisi had won the Fence with 1096 MP points.  In Bronze medal position was Frank Vicente of Cuba with a total of 5372 points. Brazil’s Juliano Goncalves won the Shoot with 1144 MP points, whilst several athletes achieved perfect scores in the ride. Eduardo Salas from Venezuela, who was 4th in the Biathle World Championships in Monaco a few weeks ago, was the fastest runner of the competition, 1228 MP points.

UIPM Technical Delegate Janusz Peciak reported that the competition was very successful, well organised and the weather was perfect (in Argentina it is now spring). After competition all athletes were very happy and ready to compete in two months in Guatemala at the NORCECA Championships. “I was surprised to see many good athletes who never competed in Europe before now. I believe that the World Championships in Guatemala next year will see a record number of countries participating.” 

Top 5 Results

        WOMEN                                                                                      MEN

For full results, visit http://www.pentathlon.org

Home    Club Info    Pentathlon    Multimedia    Camps    Contact Us    Links    Competitions