It gives me great pleasure to be here today in the city of Turin, on the occasion of the 20th IAAF World Race Walking Cup.
This event is the last IAAF World Athletics Series competition of 2002, the year of the IAAF’s 90th Jubilee. 
Personally, I believe the year has been a great one for our sport, with events that have been exciting and, most important, popular with the General Public. Consider the World Junior Championships in Jamaica, in the middle of July where the entire Jamaican nation seemed to adopt the event to their hearts. It was simply marvellous to see the crowds grow day by day until the final weekend, when a capacity crowd of 36,000 enthusiastic spectators filled the stadium, leaving 9,000 disappointed people outside! This passion of course, was communicated to the young athletes and we were treated to a number of world class performances. 
Then soon afterwards, were other competitions which, although not directly organised by the IAAF, nevertheless contributed to the positive mood surrounding our sport. The Commonwealth Games in Manchester was remarkable for having full houses for almost every session of the Athletics in an attractive custom built stadium that was just the right size for our sport. As in Kingston, the special atmosphere created in such an environment helped to motivate the athletes 
From Manchester, the show moved to Munich, where the European Championships took place. Here, despite very rainy weather, again we were blessed with great performances and big crowds. To see spectators willing to watch an evening’s athletics from under the shelter of their umbrellas, for day after day, was a heart-warming sight. 
But I am also glad to report that the African and Asian Championships, which took place at the same time in Tunis and Colombo respectively, were also great adverts for the sport. The Asian Championships could boast of average evening sessions of more than 20,000 spectators, which is a record for an athletics event in Sri-Lanka.
And then we had a fantastic World Record for 100m by Tim Montgomery in Paris: a surprise ending to the Grand Prix Final where we all thought that Hicham El Guerrouj had earned the title of Overall Champion, only for Montgomery to run 9.78 and win the title as well as $250,000. Not bad for less than 10 seconds of work!
But there were also many wonderful performances on the IAAF Golden League circuit and also an exciting IAAF World Cup in Madrid. Here, despite a terrible rainstorm that almost wrecked the competition on the first day, we could see yet again why World Athletics needs some sort of team competition, which the General Public can identify with. &nbsp; This brings us up to date with Turin. I am delighted that this competition, the last IAAF World Athletic Series event of 2002, is taking place in this famous city, not only because this part of Italy has always been recognised as a cradle of world class race walkers, but because Turin is now an Olympic city in waiting. The "city centre" nature of this event will also showcase the magnificent architecture of the Piedmont&nbsp; capital, and should provide superb TV images, just as was the case in 1997 when the IAAF World Cross Country Championships was held in Turin's Valentino Park. I am very excited at the prospect of seeing the world's best walkers in action, especially because the course has been especially designed so as to attract the maximum number of spectators. 
The IAAF World Race Walking Cup is the most important rendezvous for international walkers, with men's races of 50km and 20km and a women's race of 20km. A total of $210,000 is available in individual prize money (on a sliding scale from $30,000 for 1st to $3000 for 6th) and another $157,500 for teams (from $15,000 for 1st to $3,000 for 6th).
Many of you will be aware that the IOC recently announced that it was considering the place of race walking at the Olympic Games ollowing some incidents at the 2000 Games in Sydney. I believe that this is the appropriate place to announce that the IAAF believes strongly that race walking is an integral part of the sport of athletics, and of the Olympic Games with which the discipline has been associated since 1908.
As we recently explained in a letter to the IOC, the main reason for the belated disqualification of the leader of the Men’s 20km Walk in Sydney was because SOCOG chose not to invest in the electronic judging and communication system that we ourselves use at all IAAF World Championships and World Race Walking Cup competitions. It was this, rather than any inherent problem with the event, that provoked the unfortunate scenes in Sydney. I am confident that the IOC Executive Committee, when presented with our explanation, will take a more reasoned view.
Finally, I would like once again, to pay tribute to the late IAAF President Primo Nebiolo, a resident of the city. This is the first time that we have returned here since the death of Primo in 1999, and I hope that we are able to put on a good show that is worthy of his memory.
Thank you ….

The presentation by IAAF President Lamine Diack at the Official Press Conference

Official Press Conference of 20th IAAF World Race Walking Cup – Torino 2002

Mark Butler takes a look at the weekend's races and gives his predictions of their outcome.
Men’s 20K Turin could well provide a golden opportunity for&nbsp; 36 year-old Vladimir Andreyev after his bronze in Sydney and silver in Munich. The European Champion and holder of the world best – Spain’s Francisco Fernández – is absent and Andreyev ought to move up from his third place in Médizon. Since his European silver, Andreyev was also second in the World Military Championships. In fact he has placed second in all four of his races this year. Andreyev will have strong backing from a Russian team which will be seeking a third successive victory. Returning to the squad will be World Champion Roman Rasskazov who is actually the slowest this year of the five Russian selections. Italy also field a (former) World Champion, the 1995 version Michele Didoni, who was disqualified in Munich. Their fastest man, the Finnish-born Marco Giungi dropped out of the Munich 50K but has won all three of his races since then over shorter distances. Mexico and China each have powerful and youthful teams while Belarus have two from the top six finishers in Munich. Away from the top contenders, it will be interesting to see how the Democratic Republic of Congo and Iran fare; this will be their first entry in the cup with teams or even individuals.
Men’s 50K Walking superstar Robert Korzeniowski has never won a World Cup walk, and he will not do so in Turin because he felt he was not 100% fit and has decided to end his season. However, he will be at the event to support the Poles, whose star performer will be radio broadcaster Tomasz Lipiec, second in 1999 and Korzeniowski's own sister, who is competing in the women's race. Lipiec was disqualified in Munich, and another Munich casualty, Aigars Fadejevs, might be the man to beat in Turin. The Olympic silver medallist subsequently won in Hildesheim over 20K, then beat a strong field at the World Military Championships at 10,000m. Russia again have a strong quintet and – as in the 20K – will be bidding for a third successive team win. Their number one is likely to be Aleksey Voyevodin, second to Korzeniowski in Munich with a personal best. He is accompanied by the controversial German Skurygin and two exciting 22 year-olds, Potemin and Yudin. At the other end of the scale, at 49 years Fabio Ruzzier of Slovenia will the oldest contestant of the weekend.
Women’s 20K In Mézidon 1999, China beat Russia by just three points. In Turin 2002, it will be a major shock if they do not regain the team trophy with a much greater winning margin. Olympiada Ivanova is back to her very best, winning the European title in Munich with the fastest ever time at a major championship and no warnings. Ivanova– who is also a black belt in judo – had earlier placed only fourth in the Russian Championships, and the three women who beat her then are all in Russia’s Turin team. In fact the squad comprises five of the six fastest women in 2002, the other being another Russian who was not selected ! The Chinese are having a low-key year and have not even chosen their three quickest women this season. If any team can pressurise the Russians, it should be Italy, champions in 1993 and runners-up twice since then. They are led by European bronze medallist Erica Alfridi who has the fastest non-Russian time of the year. Munich fourth-placer Gillian O’Sullivan can be expected to place highly again, though Ireland do not have a full team for backup. Mexico and Romania will also be looking for team honours.
&nbsp;

IAAF consultant Mark Butler looks at the prospects for the weekend's races.

A look at the top prospects

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20th IAAF World Race Walking Cup - Biographical Entry List

The traditional power houses of Race Walking, the Russians, Chinese, Mexicans, Italians and Spanish will be well represented on the streets of Turin this weekend at the 20th IAAF World Race Walking Cup. Yet beyond these historical bastions of the discipline, race walking has over the course of the last century expanded into a sport with universal appeal.
Poland’s peerless Robert Korzeniowski, the triple Olympic champion might be taking a well-earned rest and sitting out this World Race Walking Cup but a total of 55 countries will be represented in Turin. 
Across the three races – men’s 20km and 50km and women’s 20km - athletes with ages ranged down from a veteran 49 years to a sprightly 17 years, and originating from a diverse array of nations such as Liberia, Chile, Tajikistan, Costa Rica, will pound the streets of this northern Italian city, confirming that Race Walking truly encompasses a wide spread of humanity.
Fiji with a team of four walkers in the men’s 20km make their debut in the Cup. Dip Chand, Pradeep Chand, Manohara Maharaj and Selwyn Shaniel with no notable pedigree are unlikely to figure in the team honours but just their competitive presence along with competitors from Egypt and Ghana signifies that walking has come a long way since it received its first international recognition. It was just a little less than 100 years ago that varying walking distances from 1500m to 10 Miles were first introduced at the unofficial “interim” Olympics of 1906 and the official 1908 London Games, competitions which were dominated by American and British walkers. 
The distances of 20km and 50km were not standardized for men until the 1952 Olympics, and it has been at these lengths that the World Race Walking Cup has been fought since 1961, when its genesis the Lugano team Cup was first contested. The women’s race after beginning as a 5km event (1979) changed to 10km (1983) and more latterly in 1999 to the present 20km distance.
The Prize awards for the IAAF World Race Walking Cup are also substantial, denoting the event’s growing stature, with individual awards graduating down from $30,000 for first place to $3000 for sixth position, and team prizes from $15,000 for first place to $3000 for sixth, in each of the three races.
IAAF

The traditional power houses of Race Walking, the Russians, Chinese, Mexicans, Italians and Spanish will be well represented on the streets of Turin this weekend at the 20th IAAF World Race Walking Cup. Yet beyond these historical bastions of the discipline, race walking has over the course of the last century expanded into a sport with universal appeal.

IAAF World Race Walking Cup – a diverse mixture of ages and nationalities 

Russia’s Olimpiada Ivanova, the reigning World 20km Race Walking champion, who in August was crowned European gold medallist in Munich, is the outstanding favourite to take the IAAF World Race Walking Cup title in Torino this weekend.
Ivanova who set a World best time (1:24:50) for 20km when winning the Russian winter championships in March 2001, has had an exemplary competitive record since the women’s championship distance was increased from 10km in 1999. The Russian has also won the 2000 European Cup and the 2001 Goodwill Games titles.
The Russian was followed home by her compatriot Yelena Nikolayeva at both the Goodwill Games and this summer in Munich, and at the 2001 World Championships by Valentina Tsybulskaya of Belarus, and both these women will also contest the Cup in Torino. Notably, Nikolayeva, 36 years-old, took the silver medal over 10km at the 1995 celebration of this event.
The current world list is predictably headed by Ivanova (1:26:42), with&nbsp; Nikolayeva (1:27:01) second ranked, and another Russian Natalya Fedoskina (1:27:45) who as a nineteen year old took the silver medal in the Cup last time out in 1999. In 2002, the world’s seven fastest athletes are all Russians, with fourth fastest (Lyudmila Yefimkina, 1:27:51) and sixth fastest (Nadezhda Ryashkina, 1:28:18 ), completing the seemingly invincible Russian squad.
Since the women’s World Race Walking Cup was inaugurated in 1983, the Chinese have taken five of the nine titles which have been contested at either 10km or 20km, and though the winner of the last edition (Mezidon 1999), Liu Hongyu, will not defend her title, they will no doubt offer another stiff challenge.
Also, don’t forget the challenge of either Australia’s Commonwealth champion Jane Saville, who was in a medal position at the Sydney Olympics before being disqualified on the final approach to the stadium or Romania’s Norica Cimpean who was sixth in both Sydney and the 2001 World championships, and took the bronze in the 1999 World Race Walking Cup. Ireland’s European fourth placer Gillian O’Sullivan who set a national record of 1:28:46 in Munich – tenth fastest in the world – should also be a serious contender.
Yet perhaps we should look no further than the Torino hosts for Ivanova’s most significant opponents, as the Italian duo of Elisabetta Perrone and Erika Alfridi (1:28:33 world’s 8th fastest in 2002), are respectively the World and European bronze medallists. The two 34 year-old walkers whose careers are littered with plenty of other top 8 finishes at major championships, will both be aiming for their first gold medals, hoping to emulate on home soil the greatest ever female Italian walker Annarita Sidoti, a former World and double European champion, who will not compete this weekend.

Russia’s Olimpiada Ivanova, the reigning World 20km Race Walking champion, who in August was crowned European gold medallist in Munich, is the outstanding favourite to take the IAAF World Race Walking Cup title in Torino this weekend.

Russian team look to be unassailable in Turin

Introduction
In this section of the special event web for the 20th IAAF World Race Walking Cup - Torino 2002, you can see the latest IAAF Top Lits for the Women's and Men's 20 km Road Walking and Men's 50 km Race Walking on the road, compiled by IAAF Statistician Ottavio Castellini.
Athletes' biographies by IAAF Consultant Mark Butler&nbsp;can be downloaded&nbsp;as PDF files when they become available.

Torino 2002 Athletes section intro

The elite of world race walking will lineup for the 20th IAAF World Race Walking Cup next weekend, 12 – 13 October 2002 in Torino, Italy.
As far as the main contenders in the men’s 20k and 50km races are concerned they will be grateful that there is one notable absentee, the outstanding walker from the last five years, perhaps even all-time, Poland’s Robert Korzeniowski. 
The treble Olympic gold medallist, World and European champion as well as World record holder has decided to sit out walking's own championships which is not a great surprise.
This is the latest in a calendar year the World Cup has been held in the history of the competition, and the 34 year-old Korzeniowski and a number of others would normally be using October and the rest of the autumn to recharge batteries after an arduous summer.
In fact, there will only be one of the three champions ready to defend their crown from Mezidon '99, the last World Walking Cup. Neither Bernardo Segura from Mexico or China's Liu Hongyu are going to Torino for the 20k men or women's races but Sergei Korepanov plans to tread in the footsteps of the great Christophe Hohne, Raul Gonzales and Carlos Mercenario and defend the 50k title.
Little has been heard of the Kazakstani since he won in the small French town three years ago, but he posted a nippy 3:52:19 earlier this year, and although the other super 'K' won't be in Italy, it leaves the door open for a surprise winner.
Aleksey Voyevodin may have been a distant second behind Korzeniowski when the latter re-wrote the record book in Munich to take European gold in August but the Russian still finished in 3:40:16 to post the second best time of the year.
Other contenders for top spot will be Aigars Fadejevs (Latvia), former world champion German Skurygin (Russia), and Edgar Hernandez from Mexico who dramatically passed Fadejevs in the last 100 metres for a World bronze in Edmonton last year.
Passionate home support is likely to be reserved for Erica Alfridi in the women’s 20km. Bronze in Munich, the 34 year-old has played the bridesmaid for a long time, and possibly with one race too many in the legs of Olimpiada Ivanova or Yelena Nikolayeva, the Russian duo who took gold and silver ahead of her at the Europeans, it maybe the Italian’s turn to dent the Russian dominance of the Women's 20k.
However, Ivanova has won the last two majors with some ease and it might take a bad day or the judges to remove her from the head of the field.
If she does falter, the luck of the Irish could make for a memorable pasta party washed down with Guinness.
Gillian O'Sullivan has confidently crept up the rankings and just missed out on a Munich medal, finishing fourth. She has the technique to satisfy the judges and if she is suitably motivated following the European championships, and could make her first trip to a medal ceremony.
The Chinese and Spanish will probably have something to say about that, especially in the former's case as they seem to turn out a practically new team of talented unknowns at each walking cup.
The Men's 20k is always a case of keeping one eye on the DQ board and one on the race especially as an expected front man has done a Korzeniowski and given the race a miss.
Spain’s Francisco Fernandez, the world record holder, motored in a minute ahead of his nearest adversary at Munich to take the continental title and was milking the applause of the crowd long before Vladimir Andreyev hove into view, but the Spaniard will not be shifting into fourth gear in the home town&nbsp;of Fiat.
That leaves a traffic jam of walkers all around the 79-80 minute mark which will include Andreyev and the entire Russian team, Italian Marco Giungi who has stepped down from 50k, and another Irish hope, Robbie Heffernan – 8th in Munich.
Jefferson Perez has also hit form again after a difficult couple of years since his memorable Olympic gold for Ecuador in Atlanta six years ago.
Spare a thought for the fledgling nations of Ghana, Egypt and the sole walker from Fiji making his debut in the World Cup. 21 year-old Manohara Maharaj may not have a medal in mind, but at least the tropical paradise will have contributed to the increasing global nature of the event since the very first Lugano Cup was contested just across the border 41 years ago. 
Paul Warburton for the IAAF

The elite of world race walking will line-up for the 20th IAAF World Race Walking Cup next weekend, 12 – 13 October 2002 in Torino, Italy.

IAAF World Race Walking Cup confirms the discipline’s global reach

Compiled by Mark Butler for the IAAF

Appearances by Country - Men

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History of Race Walking
The XII and XIII century tradition of the English "footmen", who alternated running and walking as they accompanied their masters' coaches on long trips, inspired the walking competitions which were first held between 1775 and 1800 in England. These contests were over Six Days, 24 hours, etc. 
In 1866 a 7 mile walking race on track was introduced to the British championships. In 1908 walking was introduced to the Olympic Games in London with a 3500m and a 10 mile race. Only the 10 mile race was conserved in 1912. Two races were present again in the 1920 games: 3km and 20km. 
In 1924, only the 10km race was conserved but, in view of the large number of irregularities encountered, walking was eliminated altogether from the 1928 Games. 
Olympic walking was re-introduced in 1932 over a 50km distance and at 10km and 20km in 1948. In 1952 20km and 50km distances were used as men's Olympic distances.
Women's race walking contests were first recorded in Czechoslovakia in 1932. 10km competitions were part of the IAAF World Championships for the first time in 1991 and the Olympic Games a year later.

History

MonacoThe 20th edition of the IAAF World Race Walking Cup takes place in the Northern Italian city of Turin on 12-13 October.
This competition is the last IAAF World Athletics Series event of 2002, the year of the IAAF’s 90th Jubilee. 
The last IAAF World Athletic Series event of 2002, is taking place in this famous city, not only because this part of Italy has always been recognised as a cradle of world class race walkers, but because Turin is now an Olympic city in waiting. The "city centre" nature of this event will also showcase the magnificent architecture of the Piedmont capital, and should provide superb TV images, just as was the case in 1997 when the IAAF World Cross Country Championships was held in Turin's Valentino Park. The course has been especially designed so as to attract the maximum number of spectators. 
The IAAF World Race Walking Cup is the most important rendezvous for international walkers, with men's races of 50km and 20km and a women's race of 20km. A total of $210,000 is available in individual prize money (on a sliding scale from $30,000 for 1st to $3000 for 6th) and another $157,500 for teams (from $15,000 for 1st to $3,000 for 6th).
Amongst the final entries now being processed by the IAAF, are strong teams from the traditionally powerful walking nations: Russia, Mexico, China, Spain and the host nation Italy.
Amongst the defending champions from the last edition of this competition in Mezidon-Canon, only the men’s 50km winner, Sergey Korepanov (KAZ) is entered for Turin. But most of the top protagonists of last year’s IAAF World Championships in Edmonton will be going for gold. Russia’s Ivanova Olimpiada, the 2001 World Champion, is the favourite in the Women’s 20 km, while in the men’s event Russia’s 2001 World gold and bronze medallists, Roman Rasskazov and Viktor Burayev, will be aiming to complete another Russian medal sweep. The 1996 Olympic champion at 20km, Jefferson Perez of Ecuador, will also be in Turin. Of the men’s 50km contenders, the silver and bronze medalists from Edmonton, Angel Garcia of Spain, and Edgar Hernandez of Mexico, are the leading favourites.
For more information check out: <A href="http://www.walkwc2002.com/">http://www.walkwc2002.com/</A> Or contact: IAAF Communications: +377 93 10 88 88 Live reports and results will be available on <A href="http://www.iaaf.org">http://www.iaaf.org</A> 
&nbsp;

The World's leading exponents of Race Walking will be in Turin on 12-13 October for the 20th IAAF World Race Walking Cup.

WORLD ATHLETICS RACE WALKING TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS

Voyevodin dominates 50km walk and gives Russia team gold too

Korzeniowski 100km from retirement

Alfridi takes Turin by storm

Perez flies high in Torino comeback

Garcia looks forward to crowds in Torino