Adam Rutter (born 24 December 1986 in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

) is an Australian

racewalker Race walking, or racewalking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully asses ...

. He competed in the 50 km walk at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

and the

20 km walk The 20 kilometre race walk is an Olympic athletics event that is competed by both men and women. The racewalking event is competed as a road race. Athletes must always keep in contact with the ground and the supporting leg must remain straight un ...

at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

but did not finish either race. He achieved the 2008 Olympic qualifying standard by splitting 3:52:49 in the 50 km walk at age 20, making him the youngest Australian man to qualify. "At

the Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competiti ...

I was sick, so I didn't have the best prep", he said of his 2008 Olympic performance. Rutter qualified for the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15 to 23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenbu ...

, where he competed in the

. After 10 km, Rutter passed Eric Tysse to take the lead, walking negative splits ahead of Valery Borchin and Hao Wang. Rutter was described as "unheralded" and few predicted that he would be in the lead more than half-way through the race. "It's hard to put in words, it's what you sort of dream of", Rutter said. However, he was one of two athletes to have been disqualified based on his walking form. Rutter accepted but did not agree with the disqualification. Rutter competed at the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, and

2014 IAAF World Race Walking Cup The 2014 World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships, IAAF World Race Walking Cup was held in Taicang, China, on 3–4 May 2014. The course was a 2 km loop along Shanghai Road between Banjing Road and Loujiang Road in the centre of the ci ...

, with a best finish of 9th at the 2004 edition. Rutter competed for the Sydney Pacific Athletics Club and set the under-14 1500 m walk record at age 12. He studied history and trained with

Chris Erickson Chris Erickson (born 1 December 1981) is an Australian racewalker who competed at two Olympiads: in 2008 and 2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events ...

References

External links

* * * 1986 births Living people Australian male race walkers Olympic athletes for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes from Sydney World Athletics Championships athletes for Australia 21st-century Australian sportsmen {{Australia-athletics-bio-stub