“Ninja Warrior” is making its way to the Olympics. Tokyo Broadcasting System Television — the producer behind the TV format “Sasuke” (adapted around the world, including in the U.S., as various versions of “Ninja Warrior”) — has sealed a deal with Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne to incorporate the format into the new Modern Pentathlon discipline of “obstacle racing.”
UIPM, the international federation and the world governing body for “a multisports universe spearheaded by Modern Pentathlon,” has worked with TBS since 2022 in creating several test events based on “Sasuke”/”Ninja Warrior” and other obstacle sports elements. That led to the development of UIPM’s obstacle racing.
The Pentathlon was introduced to the Olympics in 1912, consisting of five disciplines: fencing, swimming, equestrian show jumping, running and shooting. (Running and shooting have more recently been combined as “laser run.”)
The International Olympic Committee voted unanimously in 2023 to include the updated Modern Pentathlon — with obstacle racing — at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. So, after the 2024 Paris Olympics, UIPM replaced equestrian show jumping with obstacle racing at all levels.
Now, under their deal, UIPM – which already held its first Obstacle World Championships in Beijing in 2025 — licensed the right to use some “Sasuke”/”Ninja Warrior” intellectual property and program elements, such as the design of certain obstacles, from TBS for obstacle racing.
