Published : 05/08/2024

On August 5, 2012 (Beijing time) at the London Olympics, Chinese athlete Chen Ding (陳定) won the 20km race walk championship and broke the Olympic record.

The final took place after the rain. Chen and his teammate Wang Zhen (王鎮) followed the pre-race tactic of "following" and stayed in the front pack for the first half of the race.

After 10 kilometres, Wang Zhen was the first to accelerate to the lead, and Chen Ding soon caught up to him, walking shoulder to shoulder.

In the last 2 kilometres, Chen began to accelerate and left everyone else far behind. He won the championship with a time of 1 hour 18 minutes and 46 seconds, breaking the Olympic record at the same time.

China had sent athletes to compete in the men's 20km race walk as early as 1984. Not only did Chen Ding win the first gold medal for Chinese athletics at the London Olympics, but he also won the first Olympic gold medal in race walking history for China.

Born on August 5, Chen Ding mentioned in an interview after the race that he was very happy, "Winning the championship is the best birthday gift for me."