The 50km walking race was held as a men's event at all Summer Olympics between 1932 and 2020, apart from the 1972 Games. It was never included as a women's event, which in 2020, made it the only athletic event open to male competitors only. Because of this, the event will be dropped from the 2024 Games schedule in favor of a mixed-team event, as the IOC aims to promote equality in gender representation at the games. The Olympic record was set in 2012 by Australia's Jared Tallent, with a time of 3 hours, 36 minutes and 53 seconds, and the world record was set in 2014 by France's Yohann Diniz with a time of 3 hours, 32 minutes and 33 seconds. Poland's Robert Korzeniowski is the most successful athlete in this event, winning three back-to-back golds between 1996 and 2004, and Korzeniowski also won the 20km walk race in the 2000 Olympics, making him the most successful Olympic racewalker of all time.
Gold medal winning times in the Men's 50km walking race at the Summer Olympics from 1932 to 2020
(in minutes*)
This data was collected using the official Olympic.org site, as well as a spreadsheet from the Guardian that includes data from 1896-2008 (available here), 2012 and 2016 data was compared with that from Encyclopaedia Britannica, and several news outlets were used to update the table when medals were reassigned (i.e. for doping offenses).
In order to display the data visually, the times have been converted into metric minutes. The standard times (rounded to the nearest full second, when applicable) are as follows (h:mm:ss), along with the winning athletes and their represented countries:
1932 - Tommy Green (Great Britain) - 4:50:10
1936 - Harold Whitlock (Great Britain) - 4:30:41
1948 - John Ljunggren (Sweden) - 4:41:52
1952 - Pino Dordoni (Italy) - 4:28:08
1956 - Norman Read (New Zealand) - 4:30:43
1960 - Dan Thompson (Great Britain) - 4:25:30
1964 - Abdon Pamich (Italy) - 4:11:12
1968 - Cristoph Höhne (East Germany) - 4:20:14
1972 - Bernd Kannenberg (West Germany) - 3:56:12
*1976 - Not included
1980 - Hartwig Gauder (East Germany) - 3:49:24
1984 - Raul Gonzalez (Mexico) - 3:47:26
1988 - Vyacheslav Ivanenko (Soviet Union) - 3:38:29
1992 - Andrey Perlov (Unified Team) - 3:50:13
1996 - Robert Korzeinowski (Poland) - 3:43:30
2000 - Robert Korzeinowski (Poland) - 3:42:22
2004 - Robert Korzeinowski (Poland) - 3:38:46
2008 - Alex Schwazer (Italy) - 3:37:09
2012 - Jared Tallent (Australia) - 3:36:53
2016 - Matej Toth (Slovakia) - 3:40:58
2020 - Dawid Tomala (Poland) - 3:50:08
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olympic.org, & The Guardian. (August 6, 2021). Gold medal winning times in the Men's 50km walking race at the Summer Olympics from 1932 to 2020 (in minutes*) [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved September 20, 2024, from https://www-statista-com.ezproxy.canberra.edu.au/statistics/1101079/olympics-50km-walking-race-gold-medal-times-since-1932/
olympic.org, und The Guardian. "Gold medal winning times in the Men's 50km walking race at the Summer Olympics from 1932 to 2020 (in minutes*)." Chart. August 6, 2021. Statista. Accessed September 20, 2024. https://www-statista-com.ezproxy.canberra.edu.au/statistics/1101079/olympics-50km-walking-race-gold-medal-times-since-1932/
olympic.org, The Guardian. (2021). Gold medal winning times in the Men's 50km walking race at the Summer Olympics from 1932 to 2020 (in minutes*). Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: September 20, 2024. https://www-statista-com.ezproxy.canberra.edu.au/statistics/1101079/olympics-50km-walking-race-gold-medal-times-since-1932/
olympic.org, and The Guardian. "Gold Medal Winning times in The Men's 50km Walking Race at The Summer Olympics from 1932 to 2020 (in Minutes*)." Statista, Statista Inc., 6 Aug 2021, https://www-statista-com.ezproxy.canberra.edu.au/statistics/1101079/olympics-50km-walking-race-gold-medal-times-since-1932/
olympic.org & The Guardian, Gold medal winning times in the Men's 50km walking race at the Summer Olympics from 1932 to 2020 (in minutes*) Statista, https://www-statista-com.ezproxy.canberra.edu.au/statistics/1101079/olympics-50km-walking-race-gold-medal-times-since-1932/ (last visited September 20, 2024)
Gold medal winning times in the Men's 50km walking race at the Summer Olympics from 1932 to 2020 (in minutes*) [Graph], olympic.org, & The Guardian, August 6, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://www-statista-com.ezproxy.canberra.edu.au/statistics/1101079/olympics-50km-walking-race-gold-medal-times-since-1932/
