Bob Nieman​

Bob Nieman is considered one of the greatest U.S. pentathletes ever. He became the first American in history to win a World Championship in Modern Pentathlon when he captured the title in Budapest in 1979. Nieman also headed the U.S. Team that won America’s first World Team Gold that same year.​

Nieman’s record of accomplishment is long and impressive. He was a three-time Olympic Team member in Modern Pentathlon in 1976, 1980, and 1988 and a member of the U.S. Olympic Fencing Team in 1980. Nieman won a Silver Medal in Team Fencing at the 1983 Pan American Games and was 40 years old when he competed in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea. He was voted co-captain of the entire 1980 Summer Olympic Team and won the U.S. Modern Pentathlon National Championship in 1976, 1982, and 1988.​

Nieman set a world record in the Pentathlon swimming event in 1976 and led his team to six U.S. Fencing Team titles from 1979-1983, and again in 1990. The Air Force Academy and Notre Dame graduate was a Sullivan Award Top 10 finalist in 1980 and 1981 and served as a Modern Pentathlon Judge during the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona. ​