Speaker 1: Walking. Most of us have been doing it since before
Speaker 1: we could use syllables one foot, then the other foot.
Speaker 1: But if you're thinking, oh yeah, walking, that's easy, Jane
Speaker 1: Savile would like a word. Hey, welcome to the ballroom.
Speaker 1: I'm Tony Armstrong and this is the show that celebrates
Speaker 1: the winners, losers and the weird stuff between. Being an
Speaker 1: Aussie athlete at the Sydney Olympics was a big deal.
Speaker 1: I mean, being an olymp in any games is a
Speaker 1: big deal, but that green and gold home crowd was
Speaker 1: something pretty special. Jane Saville was already an Olympium She
Speaker 1: debuted in the women's ten kilometer walk in Atlanta in
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety six. She didn't place that year, but Sydney
Speaker 1: two thousand looked very promising. Indeed, the women's walk had
Speaker 1: been newly increased from ten to twenty k's, and Jane
Speaker 1: was known for being a legender distance. She loved to
Speaker 1: walk a long, long way. In the Olympics, it's called racewalking, which,
Speaker 1: as the name suggests, is when you walk, but as
Speaker 1: a race and as its competitors know, racewalking, unlike every
Speaker 1: day walking, has rules, only two of them, but they're
Speaker 1: taken very very seriously. Number one, race walkers must have
Speaker 1: foot to ground contact at all times. Nobody is allowed
Speaker 1: to get airborne. Everyone knows that rule. And number two,
Speaker 1: the supporting leg must quote straightened from the point of
Speaker 1: contact with the ground and remain straightened until the body
Speaker 1: passes directly over it. In Layman's terms, you must have
Speaker 1: a straight knee when you hit the ground. Remember that one.
Speaker 1: So Sydney, the day was hot. Fifty seven women started
Speaker 1: with China's world champion Hongley Yu as the favorite. She
Speaker 1: led the pack for the first fifteen kilometers, at which
Speaker 1: point she was disqualified. That left our Jane in second place.
Speaker 1: After an hour and twenty four minutes of walking, she
Speaker 1: approached the final stretch almost shouldered to shoulder with Elizabeta
Speaker 1: Parole who had won silver in Atlanta. They powered down
Speaker 1: the burning bitchermen as onlookers cheered. Then a red card,
Speaker 1: But who's In a flash, Elizabeta was out. Jane now
Speaker 1: led on her own. She'd already received two warnings herself.
Speaker 1: One more would mean disqualification. The finish line inside the
Speaker 1: Olympic Stadium loomed. It was a capacity and the roar
Speaker 1: from the crowd was deafening. Here came Australia's hope for
Speaker 1: its first women's Olympic walking medal. Jane was a good
Speaker 1: distance ahead of the next competitor from China. With three
Speaker 1: hundred meters to go, her gold medal looked almost certain.
Speaker 1: She walked to the stadium track one foot heel down,
Speaker 1: the other foot toe down, fast, confident she could see
Speaker 1: the crowd at the top of the grandstand as they cheered.
Speaker 1: There's no third umpire in this sport. All decisions are
Speaker 1: made by human judges waiting around the course with their
Speaker 1: beady eyes peeled for rule breakers. The judge on the
Speaker 1: last leg at Sydney two thousand was a guy named
Speaker 1: Lamberto Vacci, an Italian. Almost camouflaged into the track in
Speaker 1: his tan pants and wide brimmed hat. He may have
Speaker 1: seemed unthreatening, but he caught something your everyday walker might
Speaker 1: have missed. Jane's feet were maintaining contact with the ground.
Speaker 1: That's rule one covered, but her legs weren't straight. In
Speaker 1: the final moments of the twenty kilometer race, with only
Speaker 1: meters between her and a gold medal, Jane had hit
Speaker 1: the ground with her knee bent another red card, she
Speaker 1: was disqualified. Australian fans were outraged on her behalf disqualified
Speaker 1: on home turf, a proper modern day travesty. Jane broke
Speaker 1: down in front of cameras, famously choking out and in
Speaker 1: the moment response she later regretted, it's probably best I
Speaker 1: don't repeat it here. While Sydney may have been a bust,
Speaker 1: Jane Saville returned to the Olympics in Athens in two
Speaker 1: thousand and four. She walked her heart out and it
Speaker 1: was there four years on that she succeeded in winning
Speaker 1: Australia's first women's walking medal, a bronze. Jane Saville is
Speaker 1: an Olympic medal winning walker. She's experienced the highs and
Speaker 1: the lows, but her feet have always remained grounded. You've
Speaker 1: been listening to an iHeart production the poolroom with me,
Speaker 1: Tony Armstrong. Catch you next time.