Olympic Games
Cross country was contested as a team and individual event at the 1912, 1920 and 1924 Summer Olympics. Sweden took gold in 1912, and Finland, led by Paavo Nurmi, captured the gold in 1920 and 1924. During the 1924 race in the Paris heat wave, only 15 of the 38 competitors reached the finish.[10] Eight of those were taken away on stretchers.[10] One athlete began to run in tight circles after reaching the stadium and later knocked himself unconscious,[11] while another fainted 50 meters from the finish.[12] José Andía and Edvin Wide were reported dead,[13] and medics spent hours trying to find all the competitors who had blacked out along the course.[12] Although the reports of deaths were unfounded, spectators were shocked by the attrition rate and Olympic officials decided to ban cross country running from future Games.[13] Since 1928, cross country has been contested only as the fifth discipline of the modern pentathlon, and is the only discipline where the Olympic competition is only part of the modern pentathlon.[14]