Modern Pentathlon Australia President Maki Takken has compiled concerns from the organisation and its Swedish, Finnish and Danish counterparts, over events on November 12 and 13.

The quartet claims that the passing of a motion to change the competition rules to add obstacle racing was invalid and unconstitutional, although the UIPM has rejected this narrative. 

"UIPM Motion 2 (to insert competition guidelines for obstacle racing) was also invalid and unconstitutional, because the UIPM Statutes expressly preclude the General Assembly from amending the Competition Rules in any year other than an Olympic Year unless there is a case of force majeure," a statement sent to insidethegames read.

"The UIPM conceded at Congress that 2022 is not an Olympic Year and conceded that there were no grounds for force majeure."

As a result, the objectors say that the motion is null and void - also claiming the UIPM ignored objections and forced the motion to a vote.

The UIPM has also been accused of passing several motions to amend its statues invalidly and making false claims about voting percentages.

Article 24.1 of the UIPM Statutes states a "majority of 2/3 of the votes of the Members present and eligible to vote shall be required to adopt a motion concerning amendment of the Statutes and the Competition Rules".

Article 33.1 adds "Statutes may only be amended by the affirmative vote of a majority of 2/3 of the Members present and entitled to vote at the General Assembly".

The UIPM roll call at the Congress stated that there were 97 members present and entitled to vote.

However, the figure was not used as the denominator to calculate vote percentages, with the number of votes cast used instead.

This has been objected to and led to claims of inflated voting figures.

For the obstacle vote, there were 69 affirmative votes from 97 members present which translates to a majority of 71 per cent, not the 83 per cent claimed by the UIPM.

That is still above the two-thirds threshold.

For the second motion, to insert competition guidelines for obstacle racing, there were 59 affirmative votes from 97 members which was six short of the two-thirds majority needed.

However, it was still reported as passed as the 18 blank votes were not recorded.

A similar theme was seen for motion three, to insert term limits, which fell one vote short of total required for a two-third majority of possible votes.

The UIPM has further been accused of allowing ineligible members to vote.

"It appears that 10 of the members present at Congress may not be recognised by their National Olympic Committee as the governing body for modern pentathlon in their country, despite that requirement being a key criteria for membership under Article 6 of the statutes," it is claimed.

Objections had been sent to the UIPM prior to the Congress about the decision for it to be held online instead of in a hybrid format with delegates able to attend in-person.

This has led Takken, Modern Pentathlon Association of Denmark President Benny Elmann-Larsen and Modern Pentathlon Federation of Sweden President Bengt Jönsson to send take their complaints to higher powers.

The trio addressed International Olympic Committee sports director Kit McConnell and Association of Summer Olympic International Federations deputy executive director James Carr in a letter outlining their objections.

In it they accused the UIPM of using a remote Congress "to stifle, manipulate and silence debate or points of governance/compliance with the statutes".

The UIPM has consistently said the Congress was staged online, rather than in Guatemala as first planned, to reduce costs and allow more delegates to take part.

"UIPM notes the receipt of complaints from four National Federations in relation to the 72nd UIPM Congress," a UIPM spokesperson told insidethegames.

"This was an extraordinary Congress, a fully democratic exercise streamed live online for maximum transparency and certified by a notary public. 

"UIPM will make no further comment at this time."

The complaints from Australia, Denmark, Sweden and Finland come against a backdrop where modern pentathlon is currently off the programme for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

The decision to drop riding from modern pentathlon, taken last year after a horse-abuse scandal at Tokyo 2020, has provoked stern debate.

Since then the UIPM has run four test events in obstacle racing and claimed that the change is the best chance for the sport to retain its Olympic status.