On its second appearance at the Olympics, thirty-two athletes from 21 nations participated in this event.

[1] Zsuzsanna Vörös of Hungary emerged as the top favorite in the women's event, and won the gold medal, with a score of 5,448 points.

Meanwhile, Jeļena Rubļevska set a historic milestone as the first female Latvian to win an Olympic medal, taking the silver in this event.

Great Britain's Georgina Harland claimed the nation's second Olympic bronze medal, and third overall for the women's.

The modern pentathlon consisted of five events, with all five held in one day.