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.
The 20 kilometre race walk is an Olympic athletics event that is competed by both men and women. The racewalking event is competed as a road race. Athletes must always keep in contact with the ground and the supporting leg must remain straight until the raised leg passes it.
The men's 50 kilometres race walk at the 2012 Olympic Games in London was held on 11 August on a route along The Mall and Constitution Hill. The event was marred by the disqualification of all three Russian athletes due to doping violations.
Caio Oliveira de Sena Bonfim is a Brazilian racewalker. In the 20 km walk, he was a silver medalist at the 2024 Olympic Games and a bronze medalist at the 2017 and 2023 World Championships. He also finished 4th at the 2016 Olympic Games. His mother, Gianetti Bonfim, was also an international racewalker for Brazil.
Álvaro Rafael Martín Uriol is a Spanish racewalker. He competed in the 20 km walk at the 2012 Summer Olympics but did not finish the race. In the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, he again competed in the 20km walk, winning the bronze medal.
The 10 kilometres race walk, or 10-kilometer racewalk, is a racewalking event. The event is competed as a road race. Athletes must always keep in contact with the ground and the supporting leg must remain straight until the raised leg passes it. 10 kilometers is 6.2 miles.
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.
The women's 20 kilometres walk at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was held on 19 August on a route along Pontal.
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.
Gabriela Kimberly García León is a female racewalker from Peru. She won gold medals in the 20 kilometres walk and 35 km walk at the 2022 World Athletics Championships, becoming the first ever Peruvian world medallist and the first Latin American to earn two titles at the same World Athletics Championships. García is the South American record holder for the longer event.
Massimo Stano is a male Italian racewalker. He competed in the 20 kilometres walk event at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing, China, finishing in the 19th position, and the same event at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan, finishing in first place. On 24 July 2022, Stano won the 2022 World Athletics Championships with a championship record.
Rhydian Cowley is an Australian race walker born in Glen Waverley, Victoria who specialises in the 50 kilometres race walk and 20 kilometres race walk. Cowley competed in the 2013 World Championships in Moscow and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. For both of his major championship competitions, Cowley qualified in the 20 kilometres race walk. He has also competed at a Summer Universiade, five World Race Walking Cups, and a World Junior Championships. In 2021, he competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo where he finished in 8th in the men's 50 kilometres walk with a new personal best time of 3:52.01 just 113 seconds behind the eventual winner Dawid Tomala of Poland.
Brian Daniel Pintado Álvarez is a race walker from Ecuador, two-time Pan American Games champion and Olympic Medaillist.
The men's 20 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 2017.
The women's 20 kilometres race walk was held on a 2 kilometre course comprising lengths of The Mall between Buckingham Palace and Admiralty Arch on 13 August.
Yang Jiayu is a Chinese race walker and Olympic champion. She specialises in the women's 10 kilometres and 20 kilometres race walk events, and she holds the world record in the latter. At the 2024 Summer Olympics, Yang won gold in the 20 kilometres walk. She also won the 20 kilometre walk at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics.
Jemima Montag is an Australian Olympic racewalker. She is a two-time Commonwealth Games champion, won the silver medal in the 2023 World Athletics Championships, and she won the bronze medal in 20 km walk in the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Koki Ikeda is a Japanese racewalking athlete. He is a graduate of Toyo University.
The men's 20 kilometres walk at the 2023 World Athletics Championships was held at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest on 19 August 2023.
The women's 20 kilometres race walk at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held in Paris, France, on 1 August 2024. This was the seventh time that the event was contested at the Summer Olympics.
