WHAT IS THE ATHLETIC MILITARIZED UNIVERSITY PENTATHLON?
The pentathlon is a youth organization at the national level in Mexico that was founded in 1938 with the firm pupose that each and every member pursue constant self-development with the goal being to reach the supreme end that this institution pursues: the greatness of country.
The pentathlon is a school of character and civic formation that will establish strong connections between all its members.
It is called pentathlon for its five disciplines or basic sports that are practiced; it is athletic for employing sports as a tool to develop a healthy mind and a healthy body. It is militarized for the military model that it follows: obedience, order, and discipline.
Finally it is academic because the founders were students of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, and also for the open yet critical mentality of the university culture.
OUR HISTORY:
At six o’clock in the morning of July 9, 1938 on a street near the national stadium of the Universidad Nacional de México (UNAM), 12 students from the faculty of medicine formed the Pentathlón driven by common frustrations prevalant in their generation: selfishness, egoism, lack of ideals, apathy, and pedantry (this according to the official story of the foundation.)
They wanted to gather the best volunteers with the purpose of building a “prosperous, free, and spiritually strong country (idem.).
The founders of the institution initially called “Pentathlón Deportivo Militar Universitsrio” were: Jorge Jiménez Cantú (primer comandante y principal ideólogo), »Andrés Luna Castro, »Luís Sáenz Arroyo, »Alfonso de Icaza e Icaza, »Ginés Navarro Díaz de León, »Fidel Ruiz Moreno, »José Urbano Blanchet Ceceña, »Ángel Pérez Aragón, »Joaquín de la Torre, »Braulio Peralta Rodríguez, »Carlos Retteg Solano y »Carlos Niño de Rivera, also the first instructor teniente Lieutenant Gonzalo Hidalgo of the Mexican Army.
They practiced every day, early in the morning, and their example soon spread all over México.
In 1939, one year after it was founded, the Pentatlón Deportivo Militarizo Universitario (PDMU) already had a presence in the states of México, Puebla, Querétero, Jalisco, and Coahuila, with groups of young men desiring to better their physical condition by way of a sports culture that will better their health, agility, strength and resistance. The initiators accepted their self discipline voluntarily. It was with a military character that they learned to obey and to command.
DESCRIPTION AND MEANING OF OUR FLAG:
In a blue field bordered by a line of pearly gray, a double headed golden eagle rests over five pointed stars, and on the breast of the eagle is a shield divided diagonally into green, white, and red. The pearl grey border signifies purity of intention framed by human ideals: the supreme ideals as a final goal in the conquest of spiritual well being represented by truth and beauty, for universal brotherhood and justice; natural resources that when taken advantage of and transformed by people through organization must be distributed efficiently and equally.
The blue stands for loyalty towards these goals: freedom of action and thought; penetration of the mind into the mysteries of time and space. It symbolizes in itself the magnanimity of these aspirations of the soul.
The golden eagle rests against
The golden the golden eagle stands out against the blue backdrop the blue backdrop symbolizing the honor and strength of the highest moral quality of youth activities.
The two-headed eagle is symbolic, first as the national eagle and the UNAM eagle united in a single body, and secondly symbolizes reason and faith; the emotion of intellect, cognitive capabilies and emotive strength. The firm spread wings indicate ascending flight, vertical energy, discipline, order, and direction.
The shield has the colors of the Mexican flag, love of country that nurtures and purifies. It encompasses our traditions and our geography, our dignity and our heroic country of yesterday, today and tomorrow. The claws symbolize combative stength and capacity, and creative capacity: stength in triumph or failure. Below the eagle’s claws shine five five-pointed stars that rise together inseperable and in harmony with the flight of the eagle. The five points of the “Pentalogo” symbolize the general norms of the Pentathlon youth.
This document was translated from the original Spanish to English by:
Colleen Nevins
Renee Harger
Jose Bernal
