THE SEOUL GAMES / DAY 6 : Modern Pentathlon : Nieman Falls Off Pace During Run, Places 18th

Bob Nieman knew that to have any chance at a modern pentathlon medal, he would have to build up points before the 4,000-meter cross-country run, the final of the 5 events.

As it was, he started the run fourth, 31 seconds behind the leader and 5 seconds behind third.

Nieman didn’t pass any of the competitors who started ahead of him Thursday morning on the course that went winding through the hills in Olympic Park.

Janos Martinek of Hungary passed Vakhtang Iagorachvili of the Soviet Union to win the gold medal. Carlo Massullo of Italy passed him, too, winning the silver. Iagorachvili won the bronze.

Nieman? Well, he did the best he could. But when he finally crossed the finish line there were already 17 exhausted runners collapsed on the grass or in the arms of their coaches.

He made his way through all the athletes who were shouting and crying, hugging each other and kissing each other on both cheeks.

Nieman slowly made his way to where his wife, Susan, was standing with a handful of U.S. reporters, and he greeted his quiet welcoming committee with a tired smile.

He wasn’t disappointed with his run.

He was disappointed days ago when he let his left stirrup hang too low and he kicked over a couple of fences with his own boot in the horseback riding session. He was disappointed that he didn’t score a couple more touches in the fencing session. He was disappointed when he came within millimeters of perfection on a couple of his shots at the pistol-shooting range.

And he was disappointed when he first saw the lay of the land where the running course would be marked off. The plush, soft grass and hills made him cringe.

“This course wasn’t made for a 40-year-old trying to fake it with long strides,” he said.

Nieman is actually a month away from being 41. And although in fencing and shooting and riding there is something to be said for experience, he felt his age in both the running (2 1/2 miles) and the swimming competition.

The world record for 300 meters, the distance for the modern pentathlon swim, was Nieman’s from 1976-1980. But he is now 10 seconds off that time. He sat at the pool the other night joking with Ivar Sisniega of Mexico about how age takes its toll. Sisniega held the 300-meter record from 1980 until this year, but he’s lost it since he turned 30.

If Sisniega feels old at 30, think how old Nieman feels.

Nieman will retire from the sport now, finally. He’ll go home to San Antonio and return to a job in sports marketing. He’s also an architect with a house and a restaurant on the drawing board.

He was taking his 18th-place finish gracefully, but he really had had his heart set on winning a medal. As his wife put it, “There are, maybe, 10 guys who had a chance at winning the gold medal here, and Bobby is one of them. He really thought he’d get a medal.”

The United States hasn’t won an Olympic gold medal in modern pentathlon, a sport geared to the skills of military men. The United States won the silver medal in the team competition in 1984. But the last individual Olympic medal was Robert Beck’s bronze in 1960.

Only 1 U.S. modern pentathlete has ever won a gold medal in the World Championships--Nieman in 1979.

He was the reigning world champion and had made the U.S. Olympic team when President Jimmy Carter announced the boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games. He was also 8 years younger then.

“I thought about Jimmy out there on the course today,” Nieman said with a big smile. “I wondered if maybe he didn’t want to come and run one of those thousands for me, take away some of the pain.”

The run is not his forte. When he finished first in the U.S. Olympic trials, he went into the final event with a big lead, and therefore a big head start.

Nieman knew that he had lost his chances for a medal here after the first day of competition.

“I knew when I got off the horse,” he said. “I figured I was going for, at best, a 20th-place finish.

“I made two horrible mistakes. I had the left stirrup too low. I’m so tall and have such long legs that I have to be careful about that. But that’s nothing new. For me to make that mistake and take down fences with my own foot is inexcusable.

“The other thing was that we had been told that we couldn’t bring our own saddles because of the quarantine (after many Korean horses died of disease earlier this year.) That turned out not to be the case. I bounced out of the saddle that I borrowed here and had to take a fence again. That cost me 100 points.

“My mistakes. All my fault.

“There are so many nuances in this sport; there are so many places to make mistakes. But someone with my experience shouldn’t be making those mistakes.”

Nieman was 37th after the ride. His teammates, Stull (who finished 49th overall) and Michael Gostigan (who finished 60th overall) had bad rides, too. They knew they were out of the team competition after the first day. The team finished 17th.

But Nieman tied for fifth place in fencing, one of his best events. He gained more points in swimming. And then he tied for 12th in shooting. He was fourth going into the final event.

“I could have done a little better in fencing and a little better with my shooting; I was so close,” he said. “But you have to have a little luck and I think I used up all my luck in the trials.

“I don’t think I’ll lose any sleep over my performance here. Look at the ages of the guys who won.”

The gold medalist is 23. The silver medalist is 30. The bronze medalist is 24.

“There’s a changing of the guard in this sport,” Nieman said. “I have to admit that the younger guys can run and swim great. I guess I’m lucky even to be here.”