Fencing

Fencing is a series of one-touch bouts with épée swords. The fencing event of modern pentathlon is a round-robin tournament, with a single touch deciding each match. The fencing event is held usually in an indoor arena on special strips (pistes) measuring 14m long and between 1.5m and 2m wide. Each competitor has a bout against every other competitor. Bouts last for one minute, the winner being the first fencer to score a hit. If neither scores a hit, both competitors register a defeat, a double hit, doesn't count. Point penalties are awarded for a variety of infringements including hitting the épée on anything other than the opponent to register to a hit, crossing the boundary line with both feet or to avoid a hit, dangerous play and when a fencer turns their back on the opponent. Seventy percent bouts won correspond to 1000 pentathlon points. Each win is called a victory and each loss a defeat. Each victory over or under the 70% mark is worth a specific point value and this number is in accordance with the number of competitors:

22-23 Bouts gives +/- 40 points  24-26 Bouts gives +/- 36 points  27-29 Bouts gives +/- 32 points  30-33 Bouts gives +/- 28 points  34-39 Bouts gives +/- 24 points

Example: 36 competitions (the number of athletes in a final) means 35 bouts, 70% of 35 bouts = 25 victories = 1000 points, 23 victories are therefore worth 952 Pentathlon points.

Do to limited capacity this event is invitation only.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Modern_Pentathlon_Union