The mocked walkers experience their Olympic magic
Walkers have it tough: During training, they are often heckled and laughed at, but every four years, they get the big stage at the Olympics. In Paris, they finally receive the recognition they deserve.
One of the most beautiful things about the Olympics is that every four years, it brings sports to the forefront that we rediscover and then forget - only to be happy to see them again in four years. We get to learn about new worlds, heroes, and dramas. Whether it's skeet shooting, which looks like a gender reveal with shotguns, or speed climbing, where the Iranian legend Reza Alipour loses to a 19-year-old, or walking, which can seem a bit strange.
The sport doesn't have it easy, despite being one of the oldest in modern games. It was first introduced for men in 1932 in LA, with women joining in 1992 in Barcelona. But even with its long history, it's easy to make fun of walking. It starts with the (admittedly) funny, curious-looking hip swing: If you only see it every four years, it can seem strange. It's the result of the two golden rules: The leg must be straight at ground contact, and one foot must always be on the ground. This is controlled not by high-tech cameras, but by the human eye.
This sets it apart from jogging and makes the entire discipline complex. To prevent it from degenerating into a bone-breaking march, the hip swing comes in, making it distinctive. There's also a complex penalty system. If an athlete breaks either of the two rules, a disqualification request is submitted. Throughout a race, these add up: first, time penalties, then eventual disqualification. But imagine someone jogging 35 kilometers having to pay attention to how they place one foot in front of the other. It makes the whole thing extremely complex and requires a lot of concentration.
Laughed at and honked at
Adding to this are the athletes who make this sport lovable. The field of this year's games tells countless interesting stories. There are the two gold medal winners over 20 kilometers in Paris. The Chinese athlete Yang Jiayu sticks her belly button closed due to cultural reasons, it's said, worried that the wind would cause her stomach problems. Or the extroverted Ecuadorian Brian Pintado, who won the first athletics gold of these games. He hasn't seen his family for four months. He always carries a photo of his two children during the races. Or the Italian Antonella Palmisano, who always wears a felt flower stitched by her mother in her hair, in the colors of the host country.
But it's also impressive athletically: Anyone who experiences walkers live is surprised at the speed they travel. That's sometimes 15 kilometers per hour - that's worlds faster than a hobby athlete. It's a shame, then, that these athletes rarely receive the recognition they deserve for their dedication. Even the German top athlete Christopher Linke knows the problem. After his disappointing 19th place over 20 kilometers, he said, "We're usually so open, but when someone says they're a walker, everyone has to laugh." The 35-year-old soldier was practically never at home with his partner during the preparations for the games, spending most of his days in high-altitude training - 200 out of 259 days before the Olympics.
Before the games, he told the Berlin "Tagesspiegel" that he is constantly heckled during his training laps around the Templiner See at home in Brandenburg. Every day, he is "honked or laughed at," the 35-year-old reported. The amount of hate, often homophobic, directed at top athletes is hard to believe. A colleague of his, Jonathan Hilbert, posted a video comparing himself to an average runner. The clip was viewed millions of times, but eventually they had to disable the comments. Hilbert was called a "faggot," Linke told the newspaper. "It's sad," he said, "that I have to justify being a racewalker in Germany."
The Problem with the Course
Despite this, he is one of the best in his field. At his fourth Olympic Games and after two fifth-place finishes, he was finally hoping for a medal in Paris. However, after the disappointment in the individual event, there was no medal in the new mixed competition over the marathon distance either. With Saskia Feige, the only German woman at world-class level, he managed to finish tenth. Their goal was to do better than the 14th place they had previously achieved at the World Championships in Turkey.
The races in Paris were not easy. The one-kilometer loop around the Trocadero, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, was picturesque for the spectators, but not for the competitors. "The street? It's terrible. I couldn't even look at the Eiffel Tower because I had to keep looking at the ground to avoid stepping into any holes or cracks," Linke said after the first race. He added, "Whoever thought that a turn on cobblestones in racewalking was a good idea has never walked in their life."
However, the racewalkers can't complain about Paris. The city was filled with sporting anticipation in the days leading up to the Games. The French fans were particularly enthusiastic, cheering on their stars. At the judo team final featuring superstar Teddy Riner against Japan, it was not uncommon for an entire intersection to come to a standstill: all the TVs showed the same image, people stopped in front of cafes, cars honked for their stars.
This euphoria spread to other sports as well. Tickets for the long-distance events were often very cheap or even free - the racewalkers benefited from this too. It was the recognition they had long been missing. At the start of the week, up to 100,000 people lined the course early in the morning to cheer on the men in their 20-kilometer race. The atmosphere on the course was "gigantic," Linke said after his first race. No one honked or laughed at the athletes. Quite the opposite.
The Olympic Games 2024 in Paris will be a significant opportunity for walkers to receive even more recognition. Their unique discipline, with its complex rules and penalties, will be showcased on a global stage. In the Olympic Games 2024, the world will get to see the dedication and athleticism of walkers like never before.
