It was in the pipes, it is now a certainty.
The 50 km walk will not be on the program for the Paris Olympics in 2024. The event is replaced by a mixed relay.
A choice to enforce parity according to the IOC.
An opinion disputed by Yohann Diniz, the 2017 world champion of the 50 km walk and holder of the world record.
What do you think of the elimination of the 50 km walk at the Paris Olympics?
YOHANN DINIZ.
Unfortunately, this is not a big surprise.
Already for the Tokyo Olympics, we had to make a big push to maintain our discipline.
The Japanese, who monopolize the first places, wanted to keep the 50 km walk.
We knew it would be complicated for the Paris Olympics.
This choice was dictated by parity, according to the IOC?
The parity has good back.
Since 2017, our discipline has opened to women.
Thus, at the last World Championship in Doha in Qatar, we had about thirty women present (Editor's note: over 20 km).
They have been practicing our discipline for three years.
What are we going to tell them now?
That they have to stop?
This is a first in history!
There will be as many female athletes as men at the # Paris2024 Olympic Games đđœđ€Ÿââïž pic.twitter.com/iRGc7k4QJz
- Paris 2024 (@ Paris2024) December 7, 2020
What is your analysis?
The IOC and the FIA ââhave not decided on Olympic virtues since walking remains a universal sport.
We walk all over the world.
In addition, this discipline emphasizes surpassing oneself, heroism but also simplicity.
You don't need a lot of tricks, just a pair of sneakers.
It may sound like something a little outdated.
Do you see other reasons?
The walk certainly pays for its length.
Today it has to go quickly.
By reasoning in this way, we can legitimately be worried about events such as the marathon, the triathlon or even the road race in cycling.
What can be the future of walking?
The 50 km walk was first entered in 1932 at the Games.
This ordeal disappears but not walking.
She will be in Paris with a mixed relay about which we don't know much.
So the march will continue but in other forms.
The most damaging remains the long distances.
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The 50 km walk also disappears from the 2022 Worlds?
And yes, and we don't talk much about it.
It was done on the sly.
The last 50 km walk in history will take place at the Tokyo Games next year.
After that, there will only be 20 km and 35 km.
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You don't seem convinced by the 35 km?
We often say that the race starts at the 35th km when we do a 50. So we stop when the interest was at its peak.
Me, I had made two proposals, namely to align with the running, with the half and the marathon.
We could have had the same thing for walking, but that was not retained.
How did you feel when you announced the end of the 50 km walk?
Bitterness, sadness but also surprise to learn it through the press.
I had the impression that we were being presented with a fait accompli.
They sneaked it around so it wouldn't show.
There was a big lack of communication.
Like what, we remain pawns on a political chessboard.
Doesn't that make you want to invest in management after your career?
Not at all.
Courbettes are not for me.
I want to bring my knowledge to walking, which is one of the most popular activities in the world.
I want to serve my sport ...