Race Walking
The man on the far right has illegally lost contact with the ground.
Racewalking is a long-distance event in the sport of athletics. Although it is a foot race, it is biomechanically different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times.
Stride length is reduced, so to achieve competitive speeds, racewalkers must attain cadence rates comparable to those achieved by Olympic 400-meter runners–and they must do so for hours at a time since the Olympic distances are 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) and 50 kilometers (31 miles).
Rules
There are two rules that govern racewalking. The first dictates that the athlete's back toe cannot leave the ground until the heel of the front foot has touched. The second rule requires that the supporting leg must straighten from the point of contact with the ground and remain straightened until the body passes over it.
These rules are judged by the human eye, which creates controversy at today's high speeds. Athletes may sometimes lose contact for a few milliseconds per stride which can be caught on high-speed film, but such a short flight phase is undetectable to the human eye.
Athletes stay low to the ground by keeping their arms pumping low, close to their hips.
If one sees a racewalker's shoulders rising, it may be a sign that the athlete is losing contact with the ground. What appears to be an exaggerated swivel to the hip is, in fact, a full rotation of the pelvis.
Athletes aim to move the pelvis forward, and to minimize sideways motion in order to achieve maximum forward propulsion. Speed is achieved by stepping quickly with the aim of rapid turnover.
There is a scoreboard placed on the course so competitors can see their violation status. A judge could also "caution" a competitor that he or she is in danger of losing form by showing a paddle that indicates either losing contact or bent knees.
No judge may submit more than one card for each walker and the chief judge may not submit any cards, it is their job only to disqualify the offending walker. Disqualifications are routine at the elite level, such as the famous case of Jane Saville disqualified within sight of a gold medal in front of her home crowd in the 2000 Summer Olympics.
Olympics
Racewalking is an Olympic athletics (track & field) event with distances of 20 kilometers for both men and women and 50 kilometers for men only.
Racewalking first appeared in the modern Olympics in 1904 as a half-mile walk in the 'all-rounder,' the precursor to the 10-event decathlon. In 1906, stand-alone 1,500m and 3,000m racewalks were added, and – excluding 1924 – there has been at least one racewalk (for men) in every edition of the Olympics since.
A World Cup in racewalking is held bienially, and racewalk events appear in the IAAF Athletics World Championships, the Commonwealth Games and the Pan American Games, among others.
High school
Racewalking is sometimes included in high school indoor and outdoor track meets. The distances walked tend to be relatively short, under two miles, with the 1500 m racewalk being the most commonly held event.
This term is disliked by racewalkers, as it is the term that was used by those in the fitness industry (i.e. Hal takes up racewalking and discovers that one of the competitors had been cheating.
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