Walking: Olympic first for Pole of steel

By EUGENE BINGHAM

The night before Polish superman Robert Korzeniowski sunk the morale of the world's fastest walkers, he prepared himself by watching a video on submarines.

Recreation, he says, is just as important as training.

Whatever his formula, others should follow it.

Korzeniowski on Friday established himself as one of the greatest ever in his sport and one of the most incredible endurance athletes of these Olympics by winning the 50km walk.

Having won the same race in 1996 and the 20km walk last week, he became the first athlete to win back-to-back victories in the longer race, and the first to strike gold in both races at the same Olympics.

The 32-year-old from the southern Polish city of Krakow broke the opposition on Friday, including New Zealander Craig Barrett, who finished 18th.

He believes that other walkers take their training too seriously and lose balance in their lives. It is better to enjoy training, find hobbies outside walking, and love life.

"Other walkers live only training and so before competition their mind is very busy ... they never go on any excursions.

"Last Monday, I went to the Blue Mountains ... so my mind can rest. [On Thursday] I read good books, motivational books, and watched a very nice video about submarines."

Fluent in Polish, English, French and Russian, Korzeniowski lives in Poland and France.

During the winter, he trains each day by walking to Belgium and back. It's not as bad as it sounds - his base is in the north of France, near the border.

Friday's victory came against his mother's advice. She was worried about him doing the 50km so soon after the 20km.

It didn't seem to hurt him. Korzeniowski settled in the front of the pack straight away and remained there while others dropped away.

He revealed a judge's warning early in the race had given him unexpected motivation.

"It was expected because the judge who gave me this warning gave me one in every competition over the last 10 years - a judge from Hungary. After the warning, I was very angry and it made me go faster."

The other medal winners - Aigars Fadejevs, a Latvian journalist, won silver and Mexico's Joel Sanchez was third - said they, too, were worried about the judges after the disqualification of leaders in the men's and women's 20km races.

Barrett's chance of a medal died about halfway through the race when the pace picked up and he fell behind the lead pack. He fought on but slipped back through the field to finish in 3h 55m 53s, 13 minutes behind Korzeniowski and seven minutes off his best time.

The 28-year-old was disappointed with his placing, halfway through those who finished.

"My tactic was to go with the leaders," said Barrett. "Someone fired ahead and I just lost them.

"The other guys were just going too fast and I had to find my own rhythm."

Barrett made a radical change to his training this year when he changed coaches to former Chinese walk coach Kui Wang.

"I was prepared to the best level I could be. My coach had me in great form, I'm just sorry I couldn't show that I had a better time in me."

A Kiwi team favourite, Barrett had plenty of support out on the course, including bronze-medal boardsailor Barbara Kendall, who whizzed alongside him on a scooter.

"She was the best, cruising along on the little scooter saying 'hang in there'," said Barrett.