List of all Olympics Men's 20 KM Walk winners including gold, silver and bronze medalists.

Men's 20 KM Walk

The 20 kilometer race walk in the Olympics event has been inducted since the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games. The event has continued in the Olympics thereafter.

Rules and Regulations
Onus of framing rules and regulations for 20 kilometers race walk in the Olympics is with International Association of Athletics Federations or the IAAF, the top body in the field of athletics track and field events.
  • Warning is given to an athlete by showing him a yellow paddle. However, the same judge cannot warn an athlete twice.
  • An athlete can leave the race course only with prior permission of the judge.
  • The athletes are allowed to take refreshments at places specified as refreshment stations. They are barred from taking refreshments anywhere else.
  • An athlete is shown red card if he is found to loss contact with the ground or bending his knees. The judge usually reports to the chief judge who shows the red card.
  • As the competition is for pace walking and not running, the athletes are disallowed to lose contact with the ground.
  • Advancing leg of the athletes must remain straight. If an athlete bends his leg, it is a violation.
  • Number of judges involved in the race walk should not be less than six.
  • Any athlete has to leave the race course if directed by an official medical officer.
Walking Technique
With constant practice, the athletes make their body muscles, particular of legs and arms, pretty strong. Only strong leg muscles can take the stress of walking for 20 kilometers at one go. The movement of various body muscles during the speed walks is quite different from the running events.

Top Performers
Athletes who have performed will in 20 km walk in the Olympics are Julio Rene Martinez, Hongjun Zhu, Nathan Deakes, Vladimir Stankin, Lingtang Bo, Alejandro Lopez, Zhide Cui, Roman Rasskazov, Jozef Pribilinec, Ernesto Canto, Maurizio Damilano, Daniel Bautista, Peter Frenkel, Vladimir Golubnichy, Ken Matthews,Francisco Javier Fernandez, Jefferson Perez, Ivano Brugnetti, Robert Korzeniowski and Daniel Plaza.

Men's 20 KM Walk Winners at Olympics

Year
Gold Silver Bronze
1956 Leonid Spirin
Soviet Union
Antanas Mikenas
Soviet Union
Bruno Junk
Soviet Union
1960 Vladimir Golubnichy
Soviet Union
Noel Freeman
Australia
Stan Vickers
Great Britain
1964 Ken Matthews
Great Britain
Dieter LINDNER
United Team Of Germany
Vladimir Golubnichy
Soviet Union
1968 Vladimir Golubnichy
Soviet Union
José Pedraza
Mexico
Nikolai Smaga
Soviet Union
1972 Peter Frenkel
East Germany
Vladimir Golubnichy
Soviet Union
Hans-Georg Reimann
East Germany
1976 Daniel Bautista
Mexico
Hans-Georg Reimann
East Germany
Peter Frenkel
East Germany
1980 Maurizio Damilano
Italy
Piotr Pochinchuk
Soviet Union
Roland Wieser
East Germany
1984 Ernesto Canto
Mexico
Raúl González
Mexico
Maurizio Damilano
Italy
1988 Jozef Pribilinec
Czechoslovakia
Ronald Weigel
East Germany
Maurizio Damilano
Italy
1992 Daniel Plaza
Spain
Guillaume LeBlanc
Canada
Giovanni de Benedictis
Italy
1996 Jefferson Pérez
Ecuador
Ilya Markov
Russia
Bernardo Segura
Mexico
2000 Robert Korzeniowski
Poland
Noé Hernández
Mexico
Vladimir Andreyev
Russia
2004 Ivano Brugnetti
Italy
Paquillo Fernández
Spain
Nathan Deakes
Australia
2008 Valeriy Borchin
Russia
Jefferson Pérez
Ecuador
Jared Tallent
Australia
2012 Chen Ding
China
Erick Barrondo
Guatemala
Wang Zhen
China
2016 Wang Zhen
China
Cai Zelin
China
Dane Bird-Smith
Australia