Modern pentathlon at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's

The modern pentathlon consisted of five events. The competition dropped the point-for-place system used in previous Games. The 1956 competition introduced a scoring system in which each the results of each event was converted to a score, with a par value of 1,000 in each event, and higher scores were desirable.[2]

• Riding: a show jumping competition. The course was 5000 m long, with a time limit of 10 minutes. Riders started with 1000 points; gaining or losing 2.5 points for every second under or over the time limit. They could also lose points through obstacle faults. Negative scores were not possible; the lowest score was 0.
• Fencing: a round-robin, one-touch épée competition. The par score of 1000 points was awarded for 26 victories (winning 75% of the fencer's 35 matches, as 36 competitors remained in the event at this stage). Each victory above or below that number adjusted the score by 37 points.
• Shooting: a rapid fire pistol competition, with 20 shots (each scoring up to 10 points) per competitor. A target score of 195 would give 1000 points; every target point above or below that resulted in a 20-point adjustment.
• Swimming: a 300 m freestyle swimming competition. The par time was 4 minutes, with every second above or below adjusting the score by 5 points.
• Running: a 4 km race. The par time was 15 minutes, with every second above or below adjusting the score by 3 points.