I WASN'T KIDDING WHEN I TOLD YOU GUYS RACEWALKING WAS INTENSE.

If you were fortunate enough to watch it live, this years 50km meter Racewalk was the stuff of running nightmares. People were peeing themselves. Dudes were collapsing. Racewalking proved itself to be the most effective way to ensure your inevitable demise while never bending your knees.

Sergey Kirdyapkin of Russia won gold with a time of 3:35:59.

The Ethiopians are at it again. Tiki Gelana, rightful owner of the Olympics' Most Whimsical Name, set the new Olympic record in the women's marathon with a time of 2:23:07.

After colliding with a fellow runner and hitting the pavement about halfway through the race, Tiki thought her marathon goals were gone.

"I said, 'Oh wow, I'm not going to finish, I just concentrated on running. All of a sudden I made it."

Tiki's stunning willpower and skill bolstered her to the finish, running the second half of the marathon three minutes faster than the first.

No woman in the world has run a faster marathon than Paula Radcliffe in more than a decade. Now at 38 years of age and in her final Olympiad, she's being forced to drop out due to injury. Said Radcliffe,

"However hard today is, finally closing the door on that dream, at least I can know that I truly have tried absolutely everything. As desperate as I was to be part of the amazing experience of the London Olympics, I don't want to be there below my best."

Back in 2003, Radcliffe broke her own World Record at the London Marathon. Her status as the greatest female marathoner is undisputed, but has been plagued by injuries as this makes the second Olympic Games she's been forced out of.


In the 2004 Games in Athens she dropped out after suffering a leg injury. At Beijing she finished a shocking 23rd after getting hit by a cramp that forced her to stop mid-race to stretch.

According to our super-secret sources here at ROFLympics, your legs are the two most important things for running a marathon. Apparently you kind of need them in order to make it through a 26.2 mile race.