Robert Korzeniowski
Was disqualified from his first Olympic race walk and went on to win four gold medals
Robert Korzeniowski was born in Lubaczow in south-eastern Poland and took up race walking, a discipline governed by a strict and often controversial rule that at least one foot must always appear to be in contact with the ground. At his first Olympics, in Barcelona in 1992, he was disqualified from the 50 kilometre walk while lying in second place for breaching that rule, and then dropped out of the 20 kilometre race altogether. It was about as bad a start to an Olympic career as an athlete can have.
He did not change sport or give up on the technical demands that had cost him so dearly. Four years later in Atlanta he won the 50 kilometre walk outright, and in 2000 in Sydney he did something no one had managed before, winning both the 20 kilometre and 50 kilometre races at the same Games, finishing more than a minute clear of the field in the longer event.
In Athens in 2004, aged 36 and racing in heat that reached 24 degrees, he won the 50 kilometre walk for a third consecutive time, finishing four minutes ahead of the runner-up and closing out one of the most dominant runs in the history of Olympic athletics. Across his career he also won three World Championship titles in the event.
He retired as arguably the greatest race walker in Olympic history, a status built on a technical discipline that receives little attention compared to running events, and remained closely involved in Polish athletics after retiring from competition.