The idea of a combined event is not new. It goes back to the ancient Olympic Games and the ancient pentathlon. I have already devoted articles in this blog on that classical event, so there is no point in writing about that here. If you haven't read them, you can just follow the links, to the first and the second article.
When the first modern Olympics were organised in Athens in 1896, there were no combined events in the program. There was a plan to include a pentathlon in the 1896 program but was apparently dropped by de Coubertin in early 1895. Neither was anything organised in Paris in 1900 although a pentathlon was listed on the program: it was never contested. (The only reason those farcical Paris competitions were considered Olympic Games is because de Coubertin decided so. In fact it is really a pity that Greece got involved into de Coubertin's olympic plans. Had he organised the first "olympics" in Paris in 1900, as he wished, his plans would have gone down the drain and the world could have been better off for this). Combined events made their appearance for the first time in St. Louis in 1904 (another farcical organisation).
I have perused the two reports on the 1904 Olympiad, the one of C. Lucas and that of J. Sullivan in order to find some indication as to what really happened. But first let us have a look at the position of the IOC. There are two combined events, recognised post-facto as olympic ones: the triathlon and the all-around. Recognising the first one as part of athletics is a pure mockery. It was part of gymnastics. The results from this event (comprising long jump, shot put, and a 100 yard dash) were combined with the ones of the gymnastics triathlon event in order to determine the winner of the gymnastics all-around event. So the athletes who participated at this event were the ones competing in gymnastics and not the one of track and field. Just 10 out of the 118 participants were non-american (9 germans and one swiss). The crushing presence of the US athletes in the 1904 Games is present also in the medal table where the USA obtained 68 out of a total of 74 medals (23 out of 25 gold).
There is not a single mention of combined events in Lucas's report. Neither is there a mention of the triathlon in the report of Sullivan although he mentions the best all-around field sports in relation to the gymnastics championship. However in his report one finds a most interesting paragraph concerning the all-around competition. It was not an olympic event but just a national championship (which, by the way, was won by T. Kiely, an irishman). Now, why on earth was this event promoted to olympic status, is a pure mystery to me (but I suspect that A. Brundage, the mastermind behind many olympic chicaneries, has something to do with this).
We can as well forget about the St. Louis combined events, and turn to the first event worth its name, the pentathlon of the 1906 Games. The idea was to somehow recreate the ancient pentathlon. The events were standing (why?) long jump, discus (greek style), stadium (192 m) race, javelin and wrestling. A point system was introduced in which athletes earned 1 point for first place, 2 points for second place etc., and the winner was the one with the lowest tally.
The story is told in every detail in the excellent book of F. Zarnowski "The Pentathlon of the Ancient World". The favourite for the gold medal was M. Sheridan who had entered 10 (!) different events. However he injured himself in the first event and dropped out of the competition. The favourites were now E. Lemming, the javelin olympic champion, and I. Mudin who had placed 4th in the discus throw event.
After 4 events the rank was: Mellander 21, Mudin 24 and Lemming 25 (Häggman and Lindberg being out of medal reach with 32 points). Mudin was a certain winner of the wrestling which would bring his tally to 25. Häggman had already beaten Mellander and it happened that the last match was between Lemming and Mellander. The former had no chance to win and he just let his compatriot beat him in wrestling resulting in Mellander's win by just one point over Mudin.
Zarnowski points out that
In 1906 the actions of Lemming and Mellander never became an issue. There were no charges of chicanery, no investigation, no hearings, no disqualification, no fines. No big deal. Olympic historians, perhaps unwilling or unable to unravel the scoring morass, appear to be completely unaware of the issue. For his part Lemming may have been lauded (at least in Sweden) for his sportsmanship; 1906 was a different era. Identical actions today would create a furor.
The story of the 1906 pentathlon does not end there. For his victory Mellander was awarded a superb trophy.
Then in 1907 he was informed by the Greek Organising Committee that the trophy he had received was a so called challenge trophy and therefore had to be returned for the next (greek) Games of 1910 (they never took place). Mellander refused to return the trophy and the letters from Greece became more and more threatening. The Swedish federation intervened and promised Mellander a special memorial prize to replace the Trophy, as soon as the latter had been returned. De Coubertin chimed in confirming that the trophy was indeed a challenge one. Finally, with the 1912 Games scheduled in Sweden, Mellander agreed to return the trophy. It shipped from Liverpool (where Mellander was living) but the ship perished in a storm! However as chance would have it the trophy was saved. It was later exhibited during the 1912 Olympics. Supposedly the trophy was to be sent after the Games to de Coubertin himself who would take care of the matter. However there is no trace of it after 1912 and nobody knows today the whereabouts of the famous trophy. Fortunately the IOC discontinued in 1923 the practice of awarding challenge trophies.
When the first modern Olympics were organised in Athens in 1896, there were no combined events in the program. There was a plan to include a pentathlon in the 1896 program but was apparently dropped by de Coubertin in early 1895. Neither was anything organised in Paris in 1900 although a pentathlon was listed on the program: it was never contested. (The only reason those farcical Paris competitions were considered Olympic Games is because de Coubertin decided so. In fact it is really a pity that Greece got involved into de Coubertin's olympic plans. Had he organised the first "olympics" in Paris in 1900, as he wished, his plans would have gone down the drain and the world could have been better off for this). Combined events made their appearance for the first time in St. Louis in 1904 (another farcical organisation).
I have perused the two reports on the 1904 Olympiad, the one of C. Lucas and that of J. Sullivan in order to find some indication as to what really happened. But first let us have a look at the position of the IOC. There are two combined events, recognised post-facto as olympic ones: the triathlon and the all-around. Recognising the first one as part of athletics is a pure mockery. It was part of gymnastics. The results from this event (comprising long jump, shot put, and a 100 yard dash) were combined with the ones of the gymnastics triathlon event in order to determine the winner of the gymnastics all-around event. So the athletes who participated at this event were the ones competing in gymnastics and not the one of track and field. Just 10 out of the 118 participants were non-american (9 germans and one swiss). The crushing presence of the US athletes in the 1904 Games is present also in the medal table where the USA obtained 68 out of a total of 74 medals (23 out of 25 gold).
We can as well forget about the St. Louis combined events, and turn to the first event worth its name, the pentathlon of the 1906 Games. The idea was to somehow recreate the ancient pentathlon. The events were standing (why?) long jump, discus (greek style), stadium (192 m) race, javelin and wrestling. A point system was introduced in which athletes earned 1 point for first place, 2 points for second place etc., and the winner was the one with the lowest tally.
The story is told in every detail in the excellent book of F. Zarnowski "The Pentathlon of the Ancient World". The favourite for the gold medal was M. Sheridan who had entered 10 (!) different events. However he injured himself in the first event and dropped out of the competition. The favourites were now E. Lemming, the javelin olympic champion, and I. Mudin who had placed 4th in the discus throw event.
Mudin throwing the discus
According to Zarnowski, as per the ancient rules only the winners of the first three events (Robertson, Mudin and Lemming) would have advanced to the sprint. As it were, at this point all but the eight men with the worst (highest) scores were eliminated, and after the stadium, two more men with the highest scores were eliminated, leaving six men with lowest scores for the wrestling. Robertson, who had won the long jump and the stadium run dropped out at that point, since he had no chance in the wrestling. 
Zarnowski points out that
In 1906 the actions of Lemming and Mellander never became an issue. There were no charges of chicanery, no investigation, no hearings, no disqualification, no fines. No big deal. Olympic historians, perhaps unwilling or unable to unravel the scoring morass, appear to be completely unaware of the issue. For his part Lemming may have been lauded (at least in Sweden) for his sportsmanship; 1906 was a different era. Identical actions today would create a furor.
The story of the 1906 pentathlon does not end there. For his victory Mellander was awarded a superb trophy.
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