Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's 50 kilometres walk
| Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics  |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | |||
| 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 50 km Walk event at the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program was held on August 27.
Poland's Robert Korzeniowski added a fourth Olympic gold medal to his tally which already included gold medals from the 20 km in Atlanta 1996 and the historical double 20 km/50 km from Sydney 2000. The 36-year-old Pole, who is by far the most successful race walker in history, took a commanding win in the 50 km race walk in 3:38:46 — his third best time ever after his World record breaking performances at the European Championships in Munich 2002 and the Paris 2003 World Championships.
Korzeniowski came home more than four minutes ahead of Russia’s world record holder Denis Nizhegorodov, who had bettered Korzeniowski’s mark when winning the national championships in June. Fourth at last year’s World Championships, Aleksey Voyevodin also of Russia, managed to grab the bronze medal with a tremendous finish overtaking PR China’s Yu Caohong just before entering the stadium. The Russian clocked 3:43:34 to the Chinese’s 3:43:45.
Korzeniowski wanted to mark the end of his illustrious career with an imposing performance at the Athens Olympic Games and not only did the Pole win the most coveted of all medals but he did it with courage, passion and style. In the leading pack since the very first stages of this gruelling event Korzeniowski was left alone in the lead when 2 hours and 25 minutes into the race Australia’s Nathan Deakes, the 20 km bronze medal winner here in Athens, was shown the red card.
From then on it was Korzeniowski all the way. At 35 kilometres which Korzeniowski reached in 2:32:12, he already had a 30-second lead over Nizhegorodov and a further 22 seconds over Caohong who was still comfortably in medal contention. At this point, Voyevodin was in fourth 13 seconds behind the Chinese with Jesús Angel García of Spain, Aigars Fadejevs of Latvia, Roman Magdziarczyk, another Pole, and 1996 20 km Olympic champion Jefferson Pérez of Ecuador trailing behind. Pérez, who had a disappointing 20 km in Athens as he could only manage fourth, was struggling to keep up the pace. He even stopped and it looked like he was going to withdraw but such is the determination of the South American that he resumed walking and eventually finished 12th in a new national record 3:53:04.
Up front Korzeniowski was increasing his lead and coming through the 45th kilometre he was 41 second clear of Nizhegorodov. The polish champion inspires so much respect that every time he would lap another runner, he was shown the thumbs up by his own competitors. When lapping his compatriot Magdziarczyk the two shook hands in a gesture that told it all. On the side of the course among the hundredths of loud and cheerful Polish fans, Athanasia Tsoumeleka, the 22-year-old Greek who won the women’s 20 km walk earlier in the week, was taking snap shots of Korzeniowski passing by.
Although there was hardly any one inside the Olympic stadium – all the fans had gathered along the 2 km loop course – Korzeniowski was greeted with a standing ovation. His arms up in the air, a Polish flag in his mouth, the Pole crossed the finish line for the last time in his competitive career.
Contents |
[edit] Medalists
| Gold |  Robert KorzeniowskiPoland (POL) |
| Silver |  Denis NizhegorodovRussia (RUS) |
| Bronze | Aleksey Voyevodin Russia (RUS) |
[edit] Abbreviations
| DNS | did not start |
| NM | no mark |
| OR | olympic record |
| WR | world record |
| AR | area record |
| NR | national record |
| PB | personal best |
| SB | season best |
[edit] Records
| Standing records prior to the 2004 Summer Olympics | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| World Record | Denis Nizhegorodov (RUS) |
3:35:29 | June 13, 2004 | Cheboksary, Russia |
| Olympic Record |  Vyacheslav Ivanenko (URS) |
3:38:29 | September 30, 1988 |  Seoul, South Korea |
[edit] Startlist
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[edit] Intermediates
| Rank | Number | Athlete | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 KILOMETRES | |||
| 1 | Denis Nizhegorodov (RUS) |
44:48 | |
| 2 | Robert Korzeniowski (POL) |
44:48 | |
| 3 |  Aigars Fadejevs (LAT) |
44:49 | |
| 4 |  Nathan Deakes (AUS) |
44:49 | |
| 5 |  Yu Chaohong (CHN) |
44:49 | |
| 20 KILOMETRES | |||
| 1 | Denis Nizhegorodov (RUS) |
1:27:54 | |
| 2 | Robert Korzeniowski (POL) |
1:27:54 | |
| 3 | Yu Chaohong (CHN) |
1:27:54 | |
| 4 | Nathan Deakes (AUS) |
1:27:55 | |
| 5 |  Andreas Erm (GER) |
1:28:00 | |
| 30 KILOMETRES | |||
| 1 | Robert Korzeniowski (POL) |
2:10:57 | |
| 2 | Denis Nizhegorodov (RUS) |
2:10:57 | |
| 3 | Nathan Deakes (AUS) |
2:10:57 | |
| 4 | Yu Chaohong (CHN) |
2:10:58 | |
| 5 | Andreas Erm (GER) |
2:11:13 | |
| 40 KILOMETRES | |||
| 1 | Robert Korzeniowski (POL) |
2:53:42 | |
| 2 | Denis Nizhegorodov (RUS) |
2:54:33 | |
| 3 | Yu Chaohong (CHN) |
2:56:26 | |
| 4 | Aleksey Voyevodin (RUS) |
2:58:31 | |
| 5 |  Jesús Angel García (ESP) |
2:59:43 | |
[edit] Final ranking
[edit] See also
[edit] References
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