“It gives me a very strong feeling to do my best with all my energy,” said Dr. Klaus Schormann after receiving an unanimous show of support at the 68th UIPM Congress as he was elected for his seventh term as president of Modern Pentathlon’s world governing body. “It’s never a question of age, it’s a question of energy and I am very invigorated by this vote of confidence. I have to thank my family, especially my wife, for their ongoing support.”
His election took place a day head of schedule as the President of the European Modern Pentathlon Confederation, Dmitry Svatkovsky (RUS), proposed to accelerate the process. It led to the General Assembly that consisted of almost 80 nations being invited to show their support for the incumbent President – and they did so, before following up with a standing ovation. The German became emotional on the stage as he accepted the mandate to serve for another four years leading up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. That will be the Games when his vision of Modern Pentathlon taking place in a single venue – the Tokyo Stadium – will come to fruition.
Schormann, 70, has been at the head of UIPM since 1993 and has overseen a profound series of changes in the core Olympic sport and the wider UIPM movement, which now consists of six sports and offers a pathway to the Olympic Games for any aspiring pentathlete in the world.
This story first appeared in the blog, The Sport Intern. The editor is Karl-Heinz Huba of Lorsch, Germany. He can be reached at ISMG@aol.com. The article is reprinted here with permission of Huba.