Men's modern pentathlon at the Games of the XIV Olympiad
Venue	Aldershot Lido
Dates	30 July – 4 August 1948
Competitors	45 from 16 nations
Medalists
William Grut  Sweden George Moore  United States Gösta Gärdin  Sweden
← 1936 1952 →

At the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, a single modern pentathlon event was contested.^[1] The event was held at the Aldershot Lido outdoor pool in Hampshire.^[2]

Competition format

The modern pentathlon consisted of five events. The competition used a point-for-place system, with the lowest total across the five events winning.^[3]

• Riding: a show jumping competition. Riders started with 100 points and could lose points either through obstacle faults or going over the 10-minute time limit. Negative scores were possible. Ties were broken by the specific time taken, with the quicker rider winning.
• Fencing: a round-robin, one-touch épée competition. Score was based on number of bouts won.
• Shooting: a rapid fire pistol competition, with 20 shots (each scoring up to 10 points) per competitor.
• Swimming: a 300 m freestyle swimming competition.
• Running: a 4 km race.

Participating nations

45 athletes from 16 nations competed at the London Games:^[1]

Results

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Riding					Fencing		Shooting			Swimming		Running		Total
			Time	Time faults	Obstacle faults	Score	Place	Wins	Place	Hits	Score	Place	Time	Place	Time	Place
	Willie Grut	Sweden	9:18.2	0	0	100	1	28	1	20	190	5	4:17	1	15:28.9	8	16
	George Moore	United States	9:22.7	0	0	100	2	26	3	20	183	21	5:09.2	17	15:07.5	4	47
	Gösta Gärdin	Sweden	9:42.6	0	0	100	6	19	17	20	188	10	4:43.1	11	15:08.7	5	49
4	Lauri Vilkko	Finland	9:55.2	0	8	92	17	13	38	20	190	4	4:24.0	3	14:21.9	2	64
5	Olavi Larkas	Finland	10:31.7	16	3	81	26	26	3	20	190	7	5:11.7	19	15:48.7	16	71
6	Bruno Riem	Switzerland	10:16.1	8.5	0	91.5	19	22	9	20	194	1	6:24.2	36	15:34.9	9	74
7	Franz Hegner	Switzerland	9:46.4	0	0	100	7	24	6	20	181	24	4:53.4	13	16:32.5	29	79
8	Richard Gruenther	United States	10:25.0	12.5	0	87.5	24	20	13	20	183	13	4:45.2	12	16:04.7	19	81
9	Nilo Floody	Chile	9:54.9	0	3	97	11	23	7	20	183	20	5:31.0	30	15:55.0	17	85
10	Viktor Platan	Finland	9:32.2	0	0	100	4	16	28	17	141	44	4:38.9	7	14:24.6	3	86
11	Enrique Wirth	Argentina	9:54.9	0	0	100	9	19	17	20	177	29	5:22.2	25	15:46.6	13	93
12	Frigyes Hegedűs	Hungary	DQ	—	—	—	45	20	13	20	193	3	5:20.2	24	15:39.2	10	95
13	Hale Baugh	United States	9:52.0	0	3	97	0	22	9	20	178	28	4:41.0	9	18:25.4	40	96
14	André Lacroix	France	10:26.8	13.5	9	77.5	27	19	17	20	185	18	5:28.8	29	15:13.7	6	97
15	Giulio Palmonella	Italy	10:09.6	5	0	95	14	17	26	20	187	15	5:12.5	21	16:11.2	22	98
16	Louis Pichon	France	12:13.0	66.5	8	25.5	36	25	5	20	188	9	5:40.0	32	15:57.0	18	100
17	Sune Wehlin	Sweden	11:09.9	35	14	51	31	14	34	20	183	22	4:53.5	14	14:09.9	1	102
18	István Szondy	Hungary	10:59.0	29.5	0	70.5	28	6	44	20	188	11	4:21.1	2	16:10.7	20	105
19	Roberto Curcio	Italy	10:21.5	11	0	89	22	23	7	20	188	14	5:23.5	26	17:09.0	36	105
20	Andy Martin	Great Britain	10:07.3	4	0	96	12	15	31	20	182	23	5:33.4	31	15:40.7	11	108
21	Augusto Premoli	Argentina	9:42.3	0	0	100	5	21	11	19	169	35	5:41.8	33	16:23.1	25	109
22	Alberto Moreiras	Spain	10:23.5	12	0	88	23	15	31	20	183	19	4:29.0	5	16:58.9	34	112
23	José Luis Riera	Spain	10:03.3	2	6	92	18	18	24	17	149	42	4:25.7	4	16:27.4	26	114
24	Hernán Fuentes	Chile	16:13.2	187	312	-399	43	20	13	20	190	6	5:19.8	23	16:49.8	32	117
25	Duilio Brignetti	Italy	13:28.1	104.5	25	-29.5	38	14	34	20	183	12	4:33.0	6	16:32.2	28	118
26	Alberto Ortíz	Uruguay	10:13.0	6.5	3	90.5	20	11	41	20	186	17	5:43.9	34	15:22.5	7	119
27	Werner Schmid	Switzerland	14:57.4	149	103	-152	42	19	17	20	193	2	5:27.0	28	16:42.0	30	119
28	Christian Palant	France	13:16.0	98	61	-59	40	18	24	20	190	8	5:08.6	16	16:48.6	31	119
29	Karel Bártů	Czechoslovakia	11:35.3	48	0	52	30	13	38	20	179	27	4:58.5	15	15:47.8	14	124
30	Aëcio Coelho	Brazil	9:26.1	0	6	94	15	28	1	19	172	33	6:47.4	39	17:34.1	37	125
31	Carlos Mercader	Uruguay	9:44.4	0	8	92	16	16	28	19	171	34	5:56.8	35	15:44.0	12	125
32	Horacio Siburu	Argentina	10:03.9	2	3	95	13	16	28	20	177	30	5:10.4	18	17:39.0	38	127
33	Alejandro Quiroz	Mexico	11:18.3	39.5	0	60.5	29	15	31	20	186	16	5:26.2	27	16:31.7	27	130
34	Jack Lumsden	Great Britain	9:29.0	0	0	100	3	14	34	19	167	37	6:31.3	38	16:10.7	20	132
35	Ricardo García	Mexico	9:49.8	0	0	100	8	12	40	17	148	43	4:42.4	10	16:50.7	33	134
36	Manuel Bernabeu	Spain	14:00.0	121.5	106	-127.5	41	19	17	19	162	39	5:12.3	20	16:21.7	24	141
37	Geoffrey Brooke	Great Britain	13:42.8	111.5	32	-43.5	39	20	13	18	153	41	6:29.6	37	15:48.4	15	145
38	Aloysio Borges	Brazil	11:15.4	38	17	45	33	17	26	19	167	36	4:40.3	8	DQ	43	146
39	Otto Jemelka	Czechoslovakia	10:10.5	5.5	9	85.5	25	19	17	20	173	31	7:18.2	42	17:03.3	35	150
40	Louis Fauconnier	Belgium	11:35.2	48	6	46	32	19	17	20	179	26	7:11.1	41	18:03.3	39	155
41	Charles Vyt	Belgium	10:03.9	2	8	90	21	14	34	19	165	38	7:05.8	40	16:17.2	23	156
42	Ruben Orozco	Uruguay	12:09.6	65	6	29	35	11	41	20	181	25	5:15.8	22	19:49.9	41	164
43	Humberto Bedford	Brazil	12:33.4	77	8	15	37	8	43	18	166	40	7:27.7	43	19:51.7	42	205
44	Raoul Mollet	Belgium	11:42.7	51.5	8	40.5	34	DNS	—	DNS	—	—	DNS	—	DNS	—	—
45	László Karácson	Hungary	DQ	—	—	—	45	21	11	19	173	32	DNS	—	DNS	—	—