Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's 50 kilometres walk
The men's 50 kilometres race walk at the 2012 Olympic Games in London was held on 11 August[1] on a route along The Mall and Constitution Hill.[2] The event was marred by the disqualification of all three Russian athletes due to doping violations.
| Men's 50 kilometres walk at the Games of the XXX Olympiad | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | The Mall | ||||||||||||
| Date | 11 August | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 63 from 35 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 3:36:53 OR | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Summary edit
With 63 starters, there was a large pack at the start, Matej Tóth walking along the side barrier was the first to take the front. By first water stop former world champion Sergey Kirdyapkin and reigning world champion Sergey Bakulin moved to front, with 3 Australians and two Guatemalans among the dozen athletes lined up behind in the lead pack. Si Tianfeng and Yohann Diniz were always just off the lead. At about 18K the pack lost one member as Yuki Yamazaki was given the red paddle taking the pack down to 10, a group 49 seconds ahead of the next competitor Robert Heffernan at 20K in 1:27:44.
At the halfway mark in 1:49:21 Nathan Deakes briefly took the lead, but was then overtaken by Bakulin with Deakes and Erick Barrondo on his shoulder. The leaders were reduced again at the 2 hour mark when Jaime Quiyuch was red paddled. Around 28K Bakulin created a gap, with Barrondo the only chaser, but at that point he already collected 2 red cards. The two leaders hit 30K in 2:10:49, over the next 2K lap, Deakes moved up to the lead group. Another lap, Diniz and Igor Yerokhin joined the group. Barrondo fell off the back of the lead group as Si had joined the pack.
Shortly after 35K Si made a break as he separated from the group gaining as much as a 20-second advantage. From off the pace, previous silver medalist, walking with two red cards himself Jared Tallent passed the slowing Barrondo (who was eventually disqualified) to gain on the group ahead. Deakes fell off the back of the pack as the Australians exchanged positions. Passing Tallent, Kirdyapkin was gaining back on the pack to join the other two Russians and Diniz, launching a group charge after Si.
In the next lap, Diniz was walking along the audience side of the course, while the rest of the Russian group walked down the center of the lane. Inexplicably, Diniz seemed to trip on the barricade alongside the course, crashing to the ground. Dazed on the ground, he did return to walking but later took a break at a water stop, the competition pulling away. He finished the race but was disqualified for taking drinks outside of the designated zone. Shortly after the crash, the three Russians went past Si. Behind the pack, Tallent gained on Si falling behind the pack. Kiryapkin broke away from his teammates. Si resurged to pass the other two Russians with Tallent right behind him. Around 42K, Barrondo was DQed Tallent and Si were battling for second place with Bakulin a dozen seconds behind but fading. Kirdyapkin continued to increase his lead, squashing the Olympic record by more than a minute. 54 seconds behind Tallent also beat the previous record for silver. Si another 100 metres back held on for bronze. Remarkably Heffernan came from well off the pace to catch and out-sprint Yerokhin who had passed his teammate.[3] Heffernan had a new Irish National Record. Five other athletes set national records behind.[4]
Doping and disqualifications edit
Following the Olympics, Yerokhin's results were struck out due to a doping ban imposed based on previous tests, as with Kirdyapkin, who also received a doping ban following the Olympics.
In a wide-ranging investigation of Russian race walking involving some 30 athletes coached by Viktor Chegin and the Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA, IAAF officials questioned the curious gap in the period of time of Kirdyapkin's RUSADA doping bans that allowed him to keep his gold medal.
The IAAF filed a case with the Court of Arbitration in Lausanne, Switzerland, and on 24 March 2016 the court decided to annul his results dating back to 2009, meaning he was stripped of his gold medal.[5]
Accordingly, Tallent was awarded the gold medal by the IOC at a ceremony in Melbourne, Australia, on 17 June 2016,[6] with Si claiming silver and Heffernan bronze.[7][8][9] Tallent was also credited with the Olympic record.
Defending Olympic champion Alex Schwazer was excluded from the event by the Italian National Olympic Committee after he failed a doping test.[10]
Schedule edit
All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)
| Date | Time | Round |
|---|---|---|
| 11 August 2012 | 09:00 | Final |
Records edit
Prior to this event[update], the world and Olympic records stood as follows:
| World record |  Denis Nizhegorodov (RUS)
|
3:34:14 | Cheboksary, Russia | 11 May 2008 |
| Olympic record |  Alex Schwazer (ITA)
|
3:37:09 | Beijing, China | 22 August 2008 |
| 2012 world leading |  Jared Tallent (AUS)
|
3:40:32 | Saransk, Russia | 13 May 2012 |
The world leading time and Olympic record were originally credited to Sergey Kirdyapkin, but were both annulled after he was found guilty of doping violations. The Olympic record was consequently credited to Tallent.
| Date | Event | Athlete | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 August | Final |  Jared Tallent (AUS) |
3:36:53 | OR |
The following national records were set during this competition:
| Ireland national record |  Robert Heffernan (IRL)
|
3:37.54 |
| South Korea national record |  Park Chil-sung (KOR)
|
3:45.55 |
| El Salvador national record |  Emerson Hernandez (ESA)
|
3:53.47 |
| Greece national record |  Alexandros Papamichail (GRE)
|
3:49.56 |
| South Africa national record |  Marc Mundell (RSA)
|
3:55.32 |
| India national record |  Basanta Bahadur Rana (IND)
|
3:56.48 |
The following area record was set during the competition.
| African record | Marc Mundell (RSA)
|
3:55.32 |
Result edit
References edit
- ^ "Athletics – Summer Olympic Sport". london2012.com. 26 May 2016. Archived from the original on 5 September 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
- ^ "Olympics – Olympic Games, Medals, Results, News – IOC" (PDF). london2012.com. 14 June 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 November 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
- ^ "Page not found – NBC Olympics". nbcolympics.com. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
{{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help) - ^ "IAAF: The XXX Olympic Games Olympic Games". iaaf.org. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
- ^ The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) Upholds Six Appeals Filed by the IAAF Against Russian Athlete
- ^ "Jared Tallent finally awarded his 2012 Olympic gold medal in Melbourne". theguardian.com. Australian Associated Press. 17 June 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
- ^ "IAAF: 50 Kilometres Race Walk Result - IAAF World Race Walking Cup 2012 - iaaf.org". iaaf.org. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
- ^ "Olive Loughnane and Robert Heffernan to receive major medals and justice". RTE Sport. 11 June 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
- ^ "Jared Tallent to collect Olympic gold medal for walking after Sergey Kirdyapkin stripped after drug test". ABC News. 7 May 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
- ^ "Walk champion Schwazer excluded for doping". Reuters. 2012-08-06. Archived from the original on 2012-08-09. Retrieved 2012-07-28.
- ^ "Men's 50km Race Walk". 2012 Summer Olympics official website. Retrieved 24 March 2016.