Italy at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics Italy at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics Italy competed at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics in Paris, France from 6 to 14 August 2005. The nation sent a delegation of 49 athletes (27 men and 22 women) and won one medal at the competition. Alex Schwazer was the bronze medallist in the men's 50 kilometres race walk and he achieved a national record of 3:41:54 hours in the process. It was an unexpected medal, as Schwazer knocked nearly twenty minutes off his previous best that year. Among other Italian performances, three athletes finished fifth in field event finals:
Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 20 kilometres walk Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 20 kilometres walk The women's 20 kilometres walk at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, was held on 11 August on a route along The Mall and Constitution Hill. From the start of the race, defending champion Olga Kaniskina took the lead, only Liu Hong would go with her. The two opened up a big gap with a chase pack of a Guatemalan, the other 2 Russians, other 2 Chinese. By the end of 8K the pack began to lose walkers, Mirna Ortíz and Johanna Jackson were disqualified, and Liu