Individual, Men

The former dominance of the Eastern European nations was fading somewhat. Of the last five World Championships, two had been won by Italians (Daniele Masala in 1982 – also 1984 Olympic champion, and Carlo Massulo in 1986) and one by Frenchman, Joël Bouzou in 1987. Hungary and the Soviet Union had once dominated the event. And after two phases, Hungary’s János Martinek surprisingly took the lead – he had little international reputation but had won the 1987 Hungarian title. He continued to lead after the swimming, followed by another surprise – Soviet Georgian Vakht’ang “Vaho” Iagorashvili, who moved up by finishing second in the swim. Martinek did poorly in the shooting, placing 45th, and dropped back to third place after four phases, trailing Iagorashvili by 29 points. Massulo had moved into third as they began the cross-country run. Both Martinek and Massulo passed Iagorashvili in the run, with Martinek winning a surprise gold medal. There were two doping positives in the 1988 modern pentathlon. Alexander Watson (AUS) was caught for excessive levels of caffeine, while Jorge Quesada (ESP) tested positive for propranolol, a β-blocker.