The men's 20 kilometres race walk at the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program was held through the streets of Athens with the start and finish at the Athens Olympic Stadium on August 20.
Race walking, or racewalking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully assess that this is maintained throughout the race. Typically held on either roads or running tracks, common distances range from 3,000 metres (1.9 mi) up to 100 kilometres (62.1 mi).
The World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships is a racewalking event organised by World Athletics. It has been held since 1961, and generally on a biennial basis. The first women's edition of the event happened in 1979. It was formerly known as the Lugano Cup after the city that hosted the first event, then became the IAAF World Race Walking Cup until 2016 and then IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships until 2018. In 2004, a junior division was added for athletes between 16 and 20. Since 2008 it has been a constituent meeting of the World Athletics Challenge – Race Walking.
Elisa Rigaudo is an Italian race walker from Cuneo.
Hatem Ghoula is a Tunisian race walker. He won four consecutive African Championships in the 20 kilometres walk from 1996 to 2002. His foremost medal was a 20 km walk bronze at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics. He is also a two-time gold medallist at the All-African Games, having won in 2003 and 2007.
Valeriy Viktorovich Borchin is a race walker from Russia who won the 2008 Olympic gold medal and was World champion over the 20 km distance. His World Championship was retroactively stripped in 2015 due to doping.
Jared Tallent is an Australian race walker and Olympic gold medallist in the 50 km walk from London in 2012. He is a four-time Olympic medallist, three-time World Championship medallist and holds the current Olympic record in the 50 km walk.
Wang Hao is a Chinese race walker.
The men's 20 kilometres walk event at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held throughout the city of Berlin on August 15, beginning and ending at the Brandenburg Gate.
Masumi Fuchise is a Japanese racewalker. She was seventh at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics and is a two-time Asian Race Walking Champion. In 2009, she set the Japanese record for the 20 kilometres race walk event. She also won the silver medal at the 2009 Summer Universiade.
Hassanine Sebei, Arabic: حسنين السباعي, is a Tunisian racewalker who specialises in the 20 kilometres race walk. He was the 2010 African champion and competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics.
The Women's 20 kilometres race walk event at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics was held on a loop course starting and finishing at Gukchae - bosang Memorial Park on August 31.
The Men's 20 kilometres race walk event at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics was held on August 28 on a loop course starting and finishing at Gukchae-bosang Memorial Park in the center of Daegu. Forty-six men started the competition and 27 countries were represented.
Enrique Vera Ibáñez is a Mexican and Swedish former race walking athlete.
Andrey Viktorovich Ruzavin is a Russian racewalking athlete who competes over the 20 kilometres race walk distance. He has a personal best of 1:17:47 hours for the distance, which ranks him in the top twenty of all time. Ruzavin was the silver medallist in the 20 km walk at the 2009 Summer Universiade and a bronze medallist at the 2014 IAAF World Race Walking Cup.
The 1992 Arab Junior Athletics Championships was the fifth edition of the international athletics competition for under-20 athletes from Arab countries. It took place in Latakia, Syria – the third consecutive time that the event was staged in the country. Morocco and Egypt, two of the region's most prominent nations in the sport, did not send a team to the competition, which reduced the standard of the performances. A total of 40 athletics events were contested, 23 for men and 17 for women.
Abdelwahab Ferguène is an Algerian former racewalking athlete who competed in the 20 kilometres race walk. Born in Akbou, he twice represented Algeria at the Summer Olympics, 26th in 1984 and 32nd in 1988. He was also a three-time participant at the World Championships in Athletics and a four-time representative at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup. He was a two-time winner of the African Championships in Athletics and won four continental silver medals. He also finished in the top two at the Maghreb Athletics Championships and Arab Athletics Championships throughout his career.
Samuel Ireri Gathimba is a Kenyan racewalking athlete. He was the 20 kilometres walk gold medallist at the African Championships in Athletics in 2016. He holds a personal best of 1:19:24 hours.
The men's 50 kilometres race walk at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics was held on a two kilometre course comprising lengths of The Mall between Buckingham Palace and Admiralty Arch on 13 August.
Vasiliy Vitalyevich Mizinov is a Russian racewalking athlete. He won a bronze medal in 20 kilometres race walk at the 2018 European Athletics Championships. Representing the Authorised Neutral Athletes at the 2019 World Athletics Championships, he won a silver medal in 20 kilometres walk. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, taking place in Tokyo, Japan in 2021, he was disqualified for going off-course.
