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The Bizarre History of Race Walking: Strange true story of how competitive walking became an Olympic Sport


It’s a race in which athletes are not allowed to run


Athlete on track
Athlete on track | via Pexels

Imagine a group of semi-anxious athletes moving through a variety of warm up exercises as they prepare to engage in a strenuous physical activity, an event for which they’ve all gathered. There’s quite a bit of chatter both from the group of competitors as well as the people who have come to watch them. The start is imminent and the excitement is slowly but steadily building. Everyone knows that someone there is going to make history. 


There are two rules in race walking. The first states that athletes must maintain one foot on the ground at all times. In other words, the athlete's back toe cannot leave the ground until the heel of the front foot has touched. And the second requires that the supporting leg must straighten from the point of contact with the ground and remain straightened until the body passes directly over it. The sport — a long-distance discipline classified as a foot race — is about precision. 


If that wasn’t weird enough, the whole thing is further colored by the fact that competitors are given yellow and cards for not sticking to the definition of walking; multiple judges attentively watch the race with the naked eye, standing ready to caution or penalize athletes by using paddles with symbols for ‘loss of contact’ (~) and ‘bent knee’ (<). But the icing on the bizarre cake is probably the origin of the sport.  


Legend has it that the event is rooted in a Victorian Era (1837-1901) practice; British noblemen used to bet on which of the footmen — who walked alongside their employer’s horse-driven coaches — would emerge the winner. It came to be known as pedestrianism and made its way to the United States in the late 19th century and caught on as a spectacle sport, with participants walking nearly 1,000 kms in six days inside packed indoor arenas.


Race walking (initially a men’s only event) first appeared in the modern Olympics in 1904; it was in the form of a half-mile walk in the all-round competition, the precursor to the 10-event decathlon. Stand-alone race walks were added to the roster in 1908;  British athlete and police officer George Larner claimed gold in the 10-mile category as well as the 3500 meters race. Women's race walking became an Olympic event in 1992, 84 years after the first men's race.


Since the mid-20th century onwards, Russian and Chinese athletes have been among the most successful on the global stage. There are two race walking distances contested at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris: the 20 kilometers race walk (men and women) and a new Marathon Race Walking Mixed Relay event 42.195 kilometers,) which is replacing the men's 50 kilometer event and was announced for the 2024 Games in 2023. 

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