The Olympic Games have now been over a week and they have not left a sea of ​​tears, if I am not mistaken.

But at least one thing will have after-effects: Long Covid - possibly.

Long pentathlon - for sure.

You remember: the horse Saint Boy, who refused to follow the German athlete Annika Schleu and thus lost a medal that was believed to be safe (would it have gotten one itself?).

The rider in tears, her trainer with the advice to finally strike with the whip.

Great excitement everywhere.

Horrified animal rights activists.

Shitstorm.

And again the question that has been asked for years, what kind of sport is it anyway?

Modern pentathlon.

Fencing, swimming, running, shooting, riding.

And now the additional question of whether the riding, for which the horses have been carted by the organizers and drawn from among the starters, should not urgently be replaced by another discipline.

Why not cycling, they say.

Simply swap sports equipment

Good idea. Even if the World Association of Modern Pentathletes is still reluctant, it would be worth considering. Cycling would serve the health, especially that of the horses, whereby one would of course have to ensure in the planning phase that the bicycles would not be raffled again according to a cherished tradition and then, in addition to high bikes, children's bikes and cargo bikes would be delivered by Deutsche Post. That would certainly lead to violent protests again, you have to please everyone nowadays, keyword equal opportunities.

It would probably be easiest to swap sports equipment.

Horses for the Tour de France, racing bikes for the ultra-modern pentathlon.

I like the idea very much, although I'm not entirely sure whether the French could actually make friends with this very innovative solution to the modern pentathlon problem.

But I would bet that Saint Boy would rather trot on a donkey path across the Tourmalet with Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar than with a lady (or a gentleman) on his back at a military that has long been overtaken by time and common sense Participate in a fitness exercise.

Of course, it could also be that Saint Boy did not feel too much lust for either one or the other. Then the modern pentathlon would have to come up with something else. Now has three years to do it. Until the Olympics in Paris.