athletics history of race walking

Although it may look easy, Race Walking, an Olympic sport, is in reality very difficult. Race Walking is a long distance footrace in which the athletes must walk and not run. In Race Walking, there is a rule known as the “Straight Leg Rule”, which means, the moment the leading foot touches the ground and until the leg passes under the center of the body, the knee is not allowed to bend. Athletes are penalized for bending their knees as their knee passes under the body or when one of their feet are not touching the ground; which is why form and technique is very important in this sport. 

Judges who watch every walker to determine whether they are to be disqualified or not.  There are usually about 9 or 10 judges that participate in each event. These judges judge the race with the naked eye, as video judging is not accepted in the race. They hold up paddles that would have symbols that mean “Loss of Contact (of the road)” and “Bent Knee”. These judges also send out a warning card that the main judge, or Chief Judge would receive these warning cards and when a race walker receives three warning cards from three different judges, that racer is disqualified.

Race Walking can be dated back to about 400 years ago in England. It did not take long to become a very popular sport throughout the world. By the 19^th Century, Race Walking was just as popular as horse racing.  Race Walking and horseracing had one thing in common, which was betting. What made these races interesting to place bets on is the racers would suffer through races that would last for several days. The typical races at this time would consist of racers trying to walk 100 miles in less than 24 hours. Other racers would last more than 40 days, where the racers would try to walk one mile each hour.  It did not take long afterward for Race Walking to become a part of the Olympics. In 1908 Race Walking was an Olympic game for men and it took 84 more years for women be able to participate in Olympic Race Walking.  Some most memorable Race Walkers in history are Ken Matthews, who won the 20km event in the 1960 Olympics and Don Thompson who won the 1964 Olympic Race Walking Race for the 50 km.