U.S. Olympic Modern Pentathlon Trials : Nieman Makes Team for Third Time at Age 40

Bob Nieman made his third Olympic team at the age of 40 Wednesday, winning the U.S. Olympic team trials in the modern pentathlon.

“It feels wonderful, finally,” Nieman said. “They all thought I was nuts.”

Nieman, who won the U.S. National Pentathlon championship in June, finished first in the trials with a combined event total of 10,598 points. He defeated second-place Mike Gostigian by 40 points after five days of competition in riding, fencing, shooting, swimming and running. Points from the June and July events were combined to determine the winner.

Nieman, a San Antonio architect; Gostigian, 25, from Newton Square, Pa., and Rob Stull, 27, from Damascus, Md., who finished third with 10,406 points, will represent the United States in the 1988 Games at Seoul, Korea, Sept. 17-Oct. 2. Laslo Beres, 30, of San Antonio, fourth with 10,252 points, is the alternate.

Stull also has qualified for the U.S. Olympic fencing team.

Nieman placed last in Wednesday’s 4,000-meter run, scoring only 1,002 points, as Tony Patt, 22, of Princeton, Mass., was first with 1,154 points.

But cheers and applause greeted Nieman as he made his way to the stands at Ft. Sam Houston after the running event on a hot, humid morning.

“It’s a brutal day,” he said. “Having the trials so close together exhausted me.”

The oldest competing U.S. pentathlete, Nieman began his amateur athletic career as a swimmer, qualifying for the U.S. Olympic trials in 1968 and 1972 but failing each time to make the team.

In 1973, he moved to San Antonio, headquarters of the U.S. Modern Pentathlon Assn., and trained to become a pentathlete. Nieman made the Olympic team in 1976 and placed fifth at Montreal. In 1979, he became the first American to win a pentathlon world championship and made the 1980 Olympic team. He was considered a gold-medal favorite but did not compete because of the U.S. boycott of the Moscow Games.

Nieman tried to make the 1984 Olympic team but placed fifth in the trials to determine the four-athlete team.

“This really closes a chapter for him,” said Nieman’s wife, Sue. “He’s able to put the 1980 boycott behind him and the close year in 1984.”

Nieman plans to spend the next week being “old and tired,” before he resumes training.

“As a team, we’ve got a good shot for the medal,” he said. “It’s no myth you get worse as you get older, but a lot of it is tenaciousness.”