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

Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
400 m	men	women
800 m	men	women
1500 m	men	women
5000 m	men	women
10,000 m	men	women
100 m hurdles		women
110 m hurdles	men
400 m hurdles	men	women
3000 m steeplechase	men
4×100 m relay	men	women
4×400 m relay	men	women
Road events
Marathon	men	women
20 km walk	men	women
50 km walk	men
Field events
Long jump	men	women
Triple jump	men	women
High jump	men	women
Pole vault	men	women
Shot put	men	women
Discus throw	men	women
Javelin throw	men	women
Hammer throw	men	women
Combined events
Heptathlon		women
Decathlon	men

The Women's 20 km Walk event at the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program was held on August 23.

In her home country Athanasia Tsoumeleka claimed the title. The 22-year-old Greek, whose previous best international performance was her fourth place at the 2000 World Juniors, made a burst with just 2 kilometres left, and resisted the desperate counter-attacks from Russia’s Olimpiada Ivanova and Jane Saville, of Australia, to finish four seconds ahead of the Russian in 1:29.12, with Saville a further nine seconds back in 1:29:25 for bronze.

With a strong breeze around the Olympic Stadium, temperatures at the start of the race were not as fierce as they had been over the weekend, at a mere 26 degrees. It helped to keep a strong, good-sized bunch together, including all the anticipated favourites, such as Ivanova and Yelena Nikolayeva, the reigning world champion, Spain’s María Vasco, the sisters Jane and Natalie Saville, Song Hongjuan, from PR China, and her team mate Wang Liping, the Sydney gold medal-winner, and Italy’s Elisa Rigaudo, the leader of the Race Walking Challenge standings.

Plus, there were two Greeks, Athina Papayianni and Tsoumeleka, the three-time Greek champion whose previous best time was 1:29:34 she recorded last year. The lead group clicked off the opening 2 km laps in just over nine minutes each, although the fourth lap picked up slightly to reach 8 km in 36:17. With fourteen walkers still in close contention at halfway (45:16), Ivanova and Margarita Turova at the front of the pack began turning the screw ever so slightly, covering the sixth lap in just 8:55. The principal casualty was Song, the fastest in the world this year ahead of the Games, with 1:26.46, but unable to sustain this pace.

The next lap was faster still, at 8:51, and now Jane Saville, the woman who four years ago was in the gold medal position when just outside the Olympic Stadium but was barred from entry because of a third judge’s warning, was setting the pace once again. Into the last lap, though, and it was Tsoumeleka, who made a telling burst, quickly opening up a lead of some 10 metres on Saville and Ivanova. Despite being served her second warning in sight of the stadium, Tsoumeleka was able to sustain her speed to see off the Russian and Australian.

1 Medalists
2 Abbreviations
3 Records
4 Startlist
5 Intermediates
6 Final ranking
7 See also
8 References

Medalists

Gold	Athanasia Tsoumeleka Greece (GRE)
Silver	Olimpiada Ivanova Russia (RUS)
Bronze	Jane Saville Australia (AUS)

Abbreviations

DNS	did not start
NM	no mark
OR	olympic record
WR	world record
AR	area record
NR	national record
PB	personal best
SB	season best

Records

Standing records prior to the 2004 Summer Olympics
World Record	Wang Yan (CHN)	1:26:22	November 19, 2001	Guangzhou, PR China
Olympic Record	Wang Liping (CHN)	1:29:05	September 28, 2000	Sydney, Australia

Startlist

Intermediates

Final ranking

Rank	Athlete	Time	Note
1 !	Athanasia Tsoumeleka (GRE)	1:29.12	PB
2 !	Olimpiada Ivanova (RUS)	1:29.16
3 !	Jane Saville (AUS)	1:29.25
4	Ryta Turava (BLR)	1:29:39
5	Melanie Seeger (GER)	1:29:52
6	Elisa Rigaudo (ITA)	1:29:57
7	María Vasco (ESP)	1:30:06
8	Wang Liping (CHN)	1:30:16
9	Yelena Ginko (BLR)	1:30:22
10	Athina Papayianni (GRE)	1:30:37
11	Rossella Giordano (ITA)	1:30:39
12	Kjersti Plätzer (NOR)	1:30:49	SB
13	Yuliya Voyevodina (RUS)	1:31:02
14	Song Hongjuan (CHN)	1:31:27
15	Valentina Tsybulskaya (BLR)	1:31:49
16	Sabine Zimmer (GER)	1:31:59
17	Yelena Nikolayeva (RUS)	1:32:16
18	Elisabetta Perrone (ITA)	1:32:21	SB
19	Kristina Saltanovic (LTU)	1:32:22
20	Susana Feitor (POR)	1:32:47
21	Sylwia Korzeniowska (POL)	1:33:06
22	Zuzana Maliková (SVK)	1:33:17
23	Sonata Milušauskaitė (LTU)	1:33:36
24	Barbora Dibelková (CZE)	1:33:37
25	Inês Henriques (POR)	1:33:53
26	Maribel Gonçalves (POR)	1:33:59
27	Norica Câmpean (ROM)	1:34:30
28	Svetlana Tolstaya (KAZ)	1:34:43
29	Ana Maria Groza (ROM)	1:34:56
30	Rocio Florido (ESP)	1:35:32
31	Hristina Kokotou (GRE)	1:35:43
32	Jiang Jing (CHN)	1:35:56
33	Yeliz Ay (TUR)	1:36:02
34	Victoria Palacios (MEX)	1:36:07
35	Yuan Yufang (MAS)	1:36:34
36	Natalie Saville (AUS)	1:36:54
37	Daniela Cirlan (ROM)	1:37:14
38	Cheryl Webb (AUS)	1:37:40
39	Marie Polli (SUI)	1:37:53
40	Mayumi Kawasaki (JPN)	1:37:56
41	Geovana Irusta (BOL)	1:38:36
42	Vira Zozulya (UKR)	1:38:45
43	Teresa Vaill (USA)	1:38:47
44	Edina Fusti (HUN)	1:39:45
45	Anita Liepina (LAT)	1:39:54
46	Sandra Zapata (COL)	1:42:22
47	Nicolene Cronje (RSA)	1:42:37
48	Alessandra Picagevicz (BRA)	1:46:21
49	Teresita Collado (GUA)	1:46:41
50	Yelena Kuznetsova (KAZ)	1:49:08
51	Yolene Raffin (MRI)	1:49:28
52	Fumilay Fonseca (STP)	2:04:54	PB
DID NOT FINISH (DNF)
—	Olive Loughnane (IRL)
—	Rosario Sánchez (MEX)
—	Nevena Mineva (BUL)
DISQUALIFIED (DSQ)
—	Maria Teresa Gargallo (ESP)
—	Kim Mi-Jeong (KOR)

References

20 kilometres race walk at the Athletics at the Summer Olympics

Men's 3 km	1908 • 1912 • 1920

Men's 3500 m	1908

Men's 10 km	1908 • 1912 • 1920 • 1924 • 1928 • 1932 • 1936 • 1948 • 1952

Men's 10 mile	1908

Men's 20 km	1956 • 1960 • 1964 • 1968 • 1972 • 1976 • 1980 • 1984 • 1988 • 1992 • 1996 • 2000 • 2004 • 2008

Women's 10 km	1992 • 1996 • 2000 • 2004 • 2008

Women's 20 km	2000 • 2004 • 2008