Water Polo

Women's water polo was one of the new events at the Sydney 2000 Games, adding another dimension to a game long ranked among the most demanding. Prohibited from touching the bottom or side of the pool through four seven-minute quarters, water polo players swim up to five kilometres in a game. They require the technique and endurance of a champion swimmer, plus a football player's finesse in passing, dribbling and shooting for goal and a rugby player's strength to battle for the ball.

In fact, water polo began as an aquatic version of rugby in the mid-1800s in England, before evolving into a waterborne semblance of football (soccer). By the turn of the century, it had become so popular in Europe and North America that it was included in the programme for the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris.

Tall, long-armed athletes are the prototype for the game, where 85% of the body is submerged. About the same underwater percentage holds true for the grabbing, holding, kicking, wrestling and yanking of swimsuits that makes the game even tougher. The water polo event for men and women will be held at Ying Tung Natatorium.

Modern Pentathlon

A young French cavalry officer of the 19th century was sent on horseback to deliver a message. He rode across the uneven terrain, through enemy lines, and was confronted by a soldier with his sword drawn. Challenged to a duel, the officer won, only to have his horse shot out from under him by another enemy soldier.

After felling that soldier with a single shot, the officer ran on. He swam across a raging river, and then finally he delivered the message. So, legend has it, was born the modern pentathlon.

The brainchild of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games, the event was based upon the unlucky officer and introduced into the Stockholm Games of 1912. Only remotely resembling the ancient pentathlon inspired by the warmongering Spartans, modern pentathletes shoot, fence, swim, compete in show jumping and run - five events testing endurance as well as athletic versatility.