Men's 20 kilometres walk at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad | |||||||||||||
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Venue | Pontal | ||||||||||||
Date | 12 August 2016 | ||||||||||||
Competitors | 74 from 40 nations | ||||||||||||
Winning time | 1:19:14 | ||||||||||||
Medalists | |||||||||||||
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Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics | ||
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Qualification | ||
Track events | ||
100 m | men | women |
200 m | men | women |
400 m | men | women |
800 m | men | women |
1500 m | men | women |
5000 m | men | women |
10,000 m | men | women |
100 m hurdles | women | |
110 m hurdles | men | |
400 m hurdles | men | women |
3000 m steeplechase | men | women |
4 × 100 m relay | men | women |
4 × 400 m relay | men | women |
Road events | ||
Marathon | men | women |
20 km walk | men | women |
50 km walk | men | |
Field events | ||
Long jump | men | women |
Triple jump | men | women |
High jump | men | women |
Pole vault | men | women |
Shot put | men | women |
Discus throw | men | women |
Javelin throw | men | women |
Hammer throw | men | women |
Combined events | ||
Heptathlon | women | |
Decathlon | men | |
The men's 20 kilometres race walk at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro took place on 12 August on a route along Pontal. Wang Zhen was the first male athletics medallist of the games. His Chinese teammate Cai Zelin was second and Dane Bird-Smith of Australia took the bronze.
Miguel Ángel López of Spain, the reigning 2015 World Champion, was among the favourites though he was not high on the world lists that year. The defending 2012 Olympic champion Chen Ding had been defeated in national competition by Wang Zhen, who was fifth on the seasonal rankings and had won the 2016 IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships. Cai Zelin (fourth at the 2012 Olympics) rounded out the strong Chinese team. Japan entered a fast team, headed by the world's top three ranked walkers: Eiki Takahashi, Isamu Fujisawa and Daisuke Matsunaga. [1] [2] The ban of the perennially strong Russian team affected the quality of entrants.
In the race, Tom Bosworth of Great Britain was a leader for much of the race until Wang Zhen increased the pace and disrupted the lead pack. Neither the Olympic nor World Champion could follow and López ultimately fell to tenth overall. Wang's lead was never assailed and his compatriot Cai ended the race as silver medallist some 12 seconds behind. Australia's Dane Bird-Smith outwalked home athlete Caio Bonfim to take the bronze medal, though Bonfim was rewarded with fourth and a Brazilian record. [2] [3] While Bosworth faded to sixth, he still left with the British national record.
All times are Brasília Time (UTC−3).
Date | Time | Round |
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Friday, 12 August 2016 | 14:30 | Final |
Prior to this event [update] , the existing World and Olympic records stood as follows.
World record | Yusuke Suzuki (JPN) | 1:16:36 | Nomi, Japan | 15 March 2015 |
Olympic record | Chen Ding (CHN) | 1:18.46 | London, United Kingdom | 4 August 2012 |
Jared Tallent OAM 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.
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.
Wang Zhen is a Chinese race walker who specialises in the 10 kilometres and 20 kilometres race walk. He holds the senior Asian record for the 20 km with his time of 1:17:36 hours and is also the Asian, Chinese and junior world record holder over 10 km. He was the bronze medallist over 20 km at the 2012 London Olympics and the gold medallist at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The men's 20 kilometres race walk at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London took place on 4 August on a route along The Mall and Constitution Hill in central London.
The Men's 20 kilometres 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.
Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics were held during the last 10 days of the games, from 12 to 21 August 2016, at the Olympic Stadium. The sport of athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics was made into three distinct sets of events: track and field events, road running events, and racewalking events.
Caio Oliveira de Sena Bonfim is a Brazilian racewalker. In the 20 km walk, he is a bronze medalist at the 2017 World Championships, and finished 4th at the 2016 Olympic Games. His mother, Gianetti Bonfim, was also an international racewalker for Brazil.
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 men's 400 metres event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 12 and 14 August at the Olympic Stadium. Fifty-three athletes from 35 nations competed. The event was won by Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa, the nation's second gold medal in the men's 400 metres. Kirani James of Grenada and LaShawn Merritt of the United States became the sixth and seventh men to win two medals in the event, but Michael Johnson remained the only man with two gold medals.
The men's 1500 metres event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 16–20 August at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Forty-two athletes from 26 nations competed. The event was won by Matthew Centrowitz, Jr. of the United States, the nation's first title in the event since 1908 and third overall. Taoufik Makhloufi and Nick Willis became the seventh and eighth men to win a second medal in the event, with Willis the only one to do so in non-consecutive Games.
The men's 800 metres event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 12–15 August at the Olympic Stadium. Fifty-eight athletes from 39 nations competed. The event was won by David Rudisha of Kenya, the fourth man to successfully defend Olympic gold in the 800 metres. Taoufik Makhloufi of Algeria took silver, the first medal for the nation in the 800 metres since 2000. The United States had an even longer medal-less streak broken, as Clayton Murphy's bronze was their first since 1992.
The men's 400 metres hurdles event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 15–18 August at the Olympic Stadium. There were 47 competitors from 33 nations. The event was won by Kerron Clement of the United States, the nation's 19th victory in the men's long hurdles. Clement was the ninth man to win multiple medals in the event. Both Kenya and Turkey earned their first medals in the men's 400 metres hurdles, the former with Boniface Mucheru Tumuti's silver and the latter with Yasmani Copello's bronze.
The men's long jump competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil was held at the Olympic Stadium between 12–13 August. Thirty-two athletes from 23 nations competed. The event was won by Jeff Henderson of the United States, the nation's first gold medal in the event since 2004 and 22nd overall. Luvo Manyonga won South Africa's second silver medal in the men's long jump. Defending champion Greg Rutherford of Great Britain took bronze, becoming the tenth man to win a second medal in the event.
Dane Alex Bird-Smith is an Australian racewalking athlete. He competes in the 20 kilometres race walk and has a best of 1:19:28 hours for the distance, set in 2017. He competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where he was the bronze medallist. Bird-Smith represented Australia at the World Championships in Athletics three times and has appeared four times at the IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships/Cup.
The men's 20 kilometres walk at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Beijing National Stadium on 23 August.
Eiki Takahashi is a male Japanese racewalker. He competed in the 20 kilometres walk event at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing, China. On December 13, 2015, he set the Asian record for the 10,000m race walk on a track. In 2016, he was the #1 ranked walker in the world for 20 km. As a result of his fast time in February, he was considered Japan's next great walking hope, replacing teammate world record holder Yusuke Suzuki. He walked in the 2016 Olympics where he walked with the lead (chase) pack until almost 14 km when eventual winner Cai Zelin broke the race open. Takahashi eventually finished 42nd.
Alice Aprot Nawowuna is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes mainly in track running and cross country running competitions. She is the sister of former world champion Joseph Ebuya. She was the gold medallist in the 10,000 metres at the 2015 African Games, where she also won 5000 metres bronze. She was a bronze medallist at the 2014 African Cross Country Championships.
Daisuke Matsunaga is a Japanese male racewalking athlete who competes in the 20 kilometres race walk. He holds a personal best of 1:18:53 hours. He represented his nation at the 2016 Summer Olympics and was the 2014 World Junior champion.
The men's 20 kilometres 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.