In 2016, to celebrate his 60th birthday, Olesinski — who coaches cross country, swimming and track for Institute athletes, as well as fencing and pentathlon for cadets and local residents — decided to compete in the 60+ age category.

And he won.

This year, with the international competition only five hours from his home town in Poland, Olesinski decided that was a good enough reason to compete again. Well, that and to defend his championship title. So he traveled to Halle, Germany and found this year's competition even more challenging.

"It was a bigger crowd than two years ago in Prague and the competition was a little bit tougher," he said.

The event drew more than 130 athletes from a record 26 countries, including an 80-year-old from Switzerland who 'officially' retired after the two-day competition.

The format of the 2018 UIPM Masters allowed participants to compete in the full five-event modern pentathlon (fencing, swimming, equestrian show jumping, and the combined event of pistol shooting and cross country running) or skip the horses, which is common in many Junior pentathlon events.

Olesinski competed in the latter, and placed first in his 60+ age group, with a combined score of 1163, thirty points ahead of his nearest competitor from Germany.

Coach 'O' as the NMMI cadets typically call him, further explained how the competition was organized.

"In the normal pentathlon, you do everything in one day. But in the Masters, they try to be nice," the coach laughed.

Coach Olesinski said they fenced on the first day, swam in the morning of the next, and then finished in the afternoon with the combined shooting and running event.

For the fencing portion of the competition, however, players competed against everyone their age or older, meaning the NMMI coach had to face 24 opponents.

And he did extremely well, going 17-6 in the one-touch bouts to win that event.

"My fencing was very good," he said, simply.

Olesinski was also pleased with his swimming, which involved 50 meters of freestyle.  He again took first, gliding to the finish in 0:31.75 — 2.3 seconds faster than anyone else in the 60+ age group.

He thought that the combined event was his weakest event, however.

"I didn't have very good shooting," he said, laughing that the venue, especially the dim lightning in the gym "wasn't very helpful for old people to shoot."

The combined event involves running 400-meters, then stopping to take shots at a target using a laser pistol. The athletes must hit the target five times, or 50 seconds has passed, to continue, with a total of four 400m loops being run with shooting after each. Olesinski said that while elite pentathletes can land all five shots in about eight seconds, for his age group, the best shooting times tended to be around 25-30 seconds.

"Every shot, you have to concentrate," he said. "If you miss, it's gone, and if you miss many shots you're done."

Olesinki finished in second place in the combined running and shooting event with a time of 7:01.58, just two seconds away from yet another first-place finish.

Overall, coach 'O' said he was impressed with how the meet was organized and everyone was treated.

"Everything was very respectful to the athletes," he said, "from the opening ceremonies to the final medal presentations, the competitions, the anthems and the venue — it was all organized very nicely."

Still, Olesinski said, the competition wasn't easy — "There are serious guys, so you have to compete" —and it was stressful, which the coach said he isn't used to any more.

"You can coach all your life, but when you come to compete it's a different story," he again laughed.

But he got through the stress and took home the gold, thanks likely in large part to the support of two of his former pupils, who came to help cheer him on in Germany: his daughter Anya Olesinski, a former junior Olympic pentathlete; and Nathan Schrimsher, who competed in the modern pentathlon for Team USA in 2016 Olympics in Rio.

So will he try again in two years?

Probably not, he said.

"The first time I went over there, two years ago, it was kind of fun. But this one, if you go the second time, then you already know what to expect."

He enjoyed visiting family and friends before the competition this time and enjoyed sightseeing in Germany. The 2020 competition is in a country he doesn't feel the need to go back to again, and frankly, he said, "I tell you true, I really don't like to compete anymore."

Still, he's not counting out going back in four years, just to see if he still has what it takes to compete.