<!–
–>
Pavel Schwecov Photo: UIPM
Before the Tokyo Olympics, the only representative of the modern pentathlon in Tokyo, Pavel Švecovs, was revealed to be in as good a form as he was before winning the World Cup at the end of March.
Since 1992, Latvian athletes have regularly competed in the Olympic Games pentathlon. Schwecov qualified for the Tokyo Olympics thanks to his place in the ranking. Before the start of the Olympic Games, Švecovs took the 29th place in the world ranking, but in the qualification rating of the Olympic Games he took the 37th position. Schwecov’s first impressions of Tokyo are “wet”, meaning that the first thing that comes to mind is glow and high humidity. “When you train during the day, it’s hot, but in the evening it’s much better,” Schwecov says of the days in Tokyo. “I want to run during the day so that you can relax in the evening, but meet the other way around. In the morning I usually try to train for swimming, shooting and fencing, but in the evening for running or riding. ”
“I hope that the competition will take place later, because the heat is not quite for me,” added the only representative of Latvia’s modern pentathlon. There is no reason to complain about the horses awarded in training. It was sadder in the final of the World Cup in Cairo, when I had to train with a horse that looked more like a donkey. “So far I have trained with four horses. Everyone liked me, it was good, ”the athlete is satisfied with the training partners. “One girl fell from a horse. He was immediately taken to the hospital, but now everything is fine. ” In general, the cooperation with horses for Švecov is successful, but in this respect the performance may be affected by side conditions. For example, in the World Cup final, one of the television operators turned the camera towards a horse. The animal got angry and threw the athletes on the ground. In the World Cup final in Cairo, which took place in early June and was the athlete’s last major competition so far, Schwecov was ranked 75th. At the end of March, for the first time in his career in Budapest, Schwecov won the World Cup.
In mid-April, he was diagnosed with Covid-19 and had to skip another stage. It was not an easy moment for the athlete, because during the quarantine he had to be in a hotel room, where a full training process was not possible. “I was in good shape but got sick with Covid-19. After recovery, I got in good shape for running. I think that I am in as good shape right now as before winning the World Cup stage, ”says the pentathlete, who expects the most valuable result from himself in the disciplines of running and fencing. “These are basically the primary disciplines of modern pentathlon. They can significantly improve the result. Swimming points are reduced. Of course, the result must be shown in all disciplines, because they are the Olympic Games. Riding can happen in any way, if you don’t show at least a mediocre result, you may not expect good places. “
Like other Latvian athletes, Švecovs is satisfied with catering in the Olympic village. The choice is large, and many have already been tried, so slowly take home-cooked food. The fans of modern pentathlon will definitely remember the silver of Jelena Rublevska at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, in which Dennis Cherkovsky took the high fourth place. The former Olympians did not give Schwecov advice before starting in Tokyo, because the modern pentathlon has changed a lot in the last 17 years. The last time Rublevsky and Cherkovsky competed in the 2012 Olympic Games in London. “Everything has changed a lot since then. Technology has advanced. Athletes are also physically stronger. As far as I know, the International Modern Pentathlon Union plans to make changes in the course of the competition again after the end of this season, ”reveals the athlete. “If I’m not mistaken, the modern pentathlon has one of the smallest funding in the Olympic movement, so the federation is always thinking of something new.”
In order to compete with other sports, the International Union of Modern Pentathlon seeks to make this sport more enjoyable for spectators. Schwecov has heard gossip that in the future, five disciplines could be completed in an hour and a half instead of eight in ten hours. “I trained in this sport myself from 2010 or 2012, so I have not experienced any significant changes. I basically got to enter the modern pentathlon when it started to change, ”says Švecovs. “I know that after the Olympics, a congress is expected to decide how to speed up the competition.”
“It simply came to our notice then [federācija] also wants to reduce the number of participants. There are now 36, but there will be 12 or 18 athletes, ”the Olympian comments on possible changes in the sport. “They also want to reduce the running distance to 5 × 600 or 4 × 600 meters.” Running discipline is one of Schwecov’s weakest, so he would not oppose such a change. The athlete did not want to call the goals out loud. He stressed that among the 36 athletes, 25 participants can apply for the medal. On Thursday, at 10.30 Latvian time, a fencing competition will take place in the modern pentathlon, but two days later the athletes will compete in the remaining four disciplines. The combined running and shooting discipline, after which the winners of the medals will also be known, will start on Saturday at 13.30 Latvian time. The closing ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games is scheduled for Sunday.
