Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's 20 kilometres walk

The women'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 23.[1][2]

Women's 20 kilometres walk
at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
VenueAthens Olympic Stadium
Dates23 August
Competitors57 from 35 nations
Winning time1:29.12
Medalists
Athanasia Tsoumeleka  Greece
Olimpiada Ivanova  Russia
Jane Saville  Australia
Athletics at the
2004 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
400 mmenwomen
800 mmenwomen
1500 mmenwomen
5000 mmenwomen
10,000 mmenwomen
100 m hurdleswomen
110 m hurdlesmen
400 m hurdlesmenwomen
3000 m
steeplechase		men
4×100 m relaymenwomen
4×400 m relaymenwomen
Road events
Marathonmenwomen
20 km walkmenwomen
50 km walkmen
Field events
Long jumpmenwomen
Triple jumpmenwomen
High jumpmenwomen
Pole vaultmenwomen
Shot putmenwomen
Discus throwmenwomen
Javelin throwmenwomen
Hammer throwmenwomen
Combined events
Heptathlonwomen
Decathlonmen
Wheelchair races

The race had started with a strong, good-sized bunch of fifty-seven walkers keeping together through the field. As the group left the stadium falling apart, Russia's Olimpiada Ivanova took the front of the pack on the opening 2k laps, followed by several of the anticipated favorites, which included 2000 Olympic champion Wang Liping, the Australian sisters Jane and Natalie Saville, and the Greek duo Athina Papayianni and Athanasia Tsoumeleka.

By the half way mark, fourteen walkers were still in close contention with Ivanova maintaining the lead and Belarus' Ryta Turava staying beside her to shorten the gap. As the Belarusian began to lose contact, Ivanova steadily broke away from the group to own the race, until Jane Saville set the pace much faster to chase her on the succeeding lap. With just 2k left to go, home favorite Tsoumeleka zoomed past the two remaining chasers Ivanova and Saville on a late charge to quickly build up a seemingly insurmountable lead.

Entering the Olympic Stadium with a rapturous welcome from the partisan crowd, Tsoumeleka walked jubilantly into the final stretch to deliver the Greeks their first ever Olympic track and field gold medal at these Games. She finished the race in 1:29.12, just four seconds ahead of the eventual silver medalist Ivanova.[3] Meanwhile, Saville had finally erased her setback of being disqualified at the Sydney Olympics four years earlier to successfully claim the bronze, holding Turava off the podium to fourth.[4][5]

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record Wang Yan (CHN)1:26:22Guangzhou, China19 November 2001
Olympic record Wang Liping (CHN)1:29:05Sydney, Australia28 September 2000

No new records were set during the competition.

Qualification

The qualification period for athletics was 1 January 2003 to 9 August 2004. For the women's 20 kilometres race walk, each National Olympic Committee was permitted to enter up to three athletes that had run the race in 1:33:30 or faster during the qualification period. If an NOC had no athletes that qualified under that standard, one athlete that had run the race in 1:38:00 or faster could be entered.

Schedule

All times are Greece Standard Time (UTC+2)

Date Time Round
Monday, 23 August 200409:00Final

Results
RankNameNationalityResultNotes
Athanasia Tsoumeleka Greece1:29.12PB
Olimpiada Ivanova Russia1:29.16
Jane Saville Australia1:29.25
4Ryta Turava Belarus1:29:39
5Melanie Seeger Germany1:29:52
6Elisa Rigaudo Italy1:29:57
7María Vasco Spain1:30:06
8Wang Liping China1:30:16
9Elena Ginko Belarus1:30:22
10Athina Papayianni Greece1:30:37
11Rossella Giordano Italy1:30:39
12Kjersti Plätzer Norway1:30:49SB
13Yuliya Voyevodina Russia1:31:02
14Song Hongjuan China1:31:27
15Valentina Tsybulskaya Belarus1:31:49
16Sabine Zimmer Germany1:31:59
17Yelena Nikolayeva Russia1:32:16
18Elisabetta Perrone Italy1:32:21SB
19Kristina Saltanovič Lithuania1:32:22
20Susana Feitor Portugal1:32:47
21Sylwia Korzeniowska Poland1:33:06
22Zuzana Maliková Slovakia1:33:17
23Sonata Milušauskaitė Lithuania1:33:36
24Barbora Dibelková Czech Republic1:33:37
25Inês Henriques Portugal1:33:53
26Maribel Gonçalves Portugal1:33:59
27Norica Câmpean Romania1:34:30
28Svetlana Tolstaya Kazakhstan1:34:43
29Ana Maria Groza Romania1:34:56
30Rocío Florido Spain1:35:32
31Hristina Kokotou Greece1:35:43
32Jiang Jing China1:35:56
33Yeliz Ay Turkey1:36:02
34Victoria Palacios Mexico1:36:07
35Yuan Yufang Malaysia1:36:34
36Natalie Saville Australia1:36:54
37Daniela Cîrlan Romania1:37:14
38Cheryl Webb Australia1:37:40
39Marie Polli Switzerland1:37:53
40Mayumi Kawasaki Japan1:37:56
41Geovana Irusta Bolivia1:38:36
42Vira Zozulya Ukraine1:38:45
43Teresa Vaill United States1:38:47
44Edina Füsti Hungary1:39:45
45Anita Liepiņa Latvia1:39:54
46Sandra Zapata Colombia1:42:22
47Nicolene Cronje South Africa1:42:37
48Alessandra Picagevicz Brazil1:46:21
49Teresita Collado Guatemala1:46:41
50Yelena Kuznetsova Kazakhstan1:49:08
51Yolene Raffin Mauritius1:49:28
52Fumilay Fonseca São Tomé and Príncipe2:04:54PB
Olive Loughnane IrelandDNF
Rosario Sánchez MexicoDNF
Nevena Mineva BulgariaDNF
María Teresa Gargallo SpainDSQ
Kim Mi-jung South KoreaDSQ

References
  1. "IAAF Athens 2004: Women's 20km Race Walk Final". Athens 2004. IAAF. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  2. "Athletics at the 2004 Athens Summer Games: Women's 20 kilometres Walk". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  3. Berlin, Peter (23 August 2004). "A hunter is hunted down in 800". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  4. Arcoleo, Laura (23 August 2004). "Surprise Greek win – Women's 20km Race Walk Olympic report". IAAF. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  5. "Greece wins walk gold". BBC Sport. 23 August 2004. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
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