Riding was dropped from after the Paris 2024 Olympics at last year's Congress, and the UIPM has since held four obstacle test events as it seeks its replacement.

A vote is set to be held at the online Congress on November 12 and 13 on obstacle becoming modern pentathlon's fifth discipline and thus part of the proposal submitted to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the UIPM seeks to salvage the sport's place at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

Advocates of the significant change argue it makes modern pentathlon more accessible, and should avoid a repeat of the upsetting scenes of Tokyo 2020, where German coach Kim Raisner was sent home in disgrace for punching a horse that refused to jump during the women's competition.

However, criticism led by the Pentathlon United pressure group has been fierce since the plans to axe riding were revealed last November.

Pentathlon United, which counts among its supporters Britain's men's Olympic champion Joe Choong, favours keeping a reformed version of the riding discipline, had accused the UIPM of a lack of transparency in its shift towards obstacle and expressed a lack of confidence in Schormann's leadership.

Protests have also been held by athletes at UIPM events this year.

However, Schormann argued that the changes would make the sport fairer and more accessible, and claimed that he had received support from National Olympic Committees (NOCs) at the Association of National Olympic Committees General Assembly.

"When you are a leader, you have to look in the past absolutely, we understand," he told insidethegames in Seoul.

"I was also an athlete so I know what it means, but never block younger people to come.

"That is the message for all the nations.

"Here we have a lot of NOCs [telling] me, we are so happy.

"Some of them were [saying] already in Santiago in Chile at the Panam Sports Assembly, now we can build up a federation, we have no horses."

He cited the introduction of the laser run to combine running and shooting as an example of a change that had faced questions but won over critics, and suggested that riding had now become outdated in modern pentathlon.

"The main issue is the accessibility, to be more fair to the athletes, to give them opportunities to start, not only European nations with horses," Schormann said.

"This is arrogance.

"This was in the past, we understand this.

"I am absolutely understanding.

"I was an athlete, I was a competition manager at the Munich 1972 Olympic Games, so don't tell me there is something I don’t know that is going on in our movement."

Schormann disputed the claims of "this one group who say they are representing thousands of athletes", and rebutted suggestions that the UIPM had ignored the will of athletes by removing equestrian.

"We included always the athletes, and I'm known for 30 years that I am not a President that gives only the medals," the German official, the longest serving President of an International Federation governing an Olympic sport, said.

"I am known as a person who goes speaking to the athletes, asking what they do for their jobs and can we help them later.

"I do this, and now there are some people saying that I am ignoring them.

"Absolutely not.

"When we created the new statutes on what rights the athletes have, we were one of the first international bodies with a full Athlete Committee with gender equality.

"We were the first group with an Environmental Commission.

"I live with what is strong, what is future, and future counts in business, life and social paths.

"Give a playground for the future, and don’t stick only in the past.

"The past you have to honour and respect, the future is what we need."

Schormann has led the organisation since 1993, and claimed that replacing riding with obstacle would be a move he would wish to be remembered by as a key change to the sport under his Presidency.

"Where I started, I want to finish this for the future, and have a look backwards and can say: this is something I did for the young generation, and they are proud that they had such a leader with a vision for the future."

The UIPM Congress has been moved online having been due to take place in Guatemala, with COVID-19 restrictions and prohibitive costs cited among the reasons.

Critics including the Modern Pentathlon Association of Denmark have argued this is a "tool for you to keep people apart", but Schormann reiterated the UIPM's stance that the staging of an in-person event would be unfair.

"There are nations that have no money to travel, but those people who are criticising us have money and can travel," he said.

"It would be unfair, but we are for fairness.

"We are an Olympic sport.

"We want fairness for everybody.

"Everybody in the same position for the Congress decision, and not someone has the privilege and the others not.

"That is what we all have to see.

"The point is for us, we are an Olympic sport, we follow the Olympic values, we follow the Olympic Charter.

"Fairness, democratic decisions, that's our goal for the future, and that is the only way to go, and nobody from outside can destroy the opinion of a majority."

Schormann faces a motion of no confidence put forward by the National Federation of Mauritius at the UIPM Congress, with his record in Africa and an alleged failure "to safeguard the interests, rights and privileges of the UIPM within the Olympic Movement" coming under fire.

On the sidelines of the ANOC General Assembly in Seoul, the UIPM signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa aimed at increasing the provision of equipment and technical support for countries across the continent.

Modern pentathlon remains off the initial programme for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, with the IOC awaiting a formal proposal on the sport's format.