OLYMPIC SPEED WALKING

OBJECTIVE OF OLYMPIC SPEED WALKING: Race walk to the finish line as fast as possible without breaking the rules.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2+ players

MATERIALS: Proper footwear

TYPE OF GAME: Sport

AUDIENCE: 12+

OVERVIEW OF OLYMPIC SPEED WALKING

Track and field sports are some of the most popular and well-watched Olympic events. But did you know speed walking is an Olympic sport as well? Considered one of the weirdest sports, right next to curling, Olympic speed walking is a simple enough sport to understand but much more difficult to execute well.

SETUP

An Olympic speed walking event is held on a 20km track for men and women, and a 50km track for men. Other common distances are 3km, 5km, and 10km.

GAMEPLAY

In Olympic speed walking, you’ll need to keep two rules in mind:

  1. One foot must always be in contact with the floor.
  2. The front leg must not bend until the body moves past the leg.

If an athlete violates either of these two rules, the judges will raise and show a yellow paddle to the athlete. There are two paddles for two symbols: (~) for “lifting” and (<) for “bent knee”.

After three yellow warning paddles are shown to an athlete, they are thereafter disqualified, which will be noted by showing the athlete a red paddle.

END OF GAME

As in any other track and field sport, in Olympic speed walking, the first person to cross the finish line wins the race. Silver and bronze medals are also given out to racers that come second and third, respectively.

Lev
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