Jared Tallent (born 17 October 1984) is an Australian

race walker 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 ...

and Olympic gold medallist in the 50 km walk from London in 2012. He is a four-time Olympic medallist, three-time World Championship medallist and holds the current Olympic record in the 50 km walk.

Personal life

Tallent was born on 17 October 1984 in

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

, Victoria. He is one of six children and his parents own a potato farm near Ballarat. Tallent attended Dean Primary School and Ballarat High School. He married race walker Claire Woods in

Walkerville, South Australia Walkerville is a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It lies just north east of the city centre, about from the Adelaide GPO. Walkerville is one of South Australia's most affluent suburbs and in 2012 it was South Australia's second "top earnin ...

in August 2008. They welcomed their first son, Harvey Sebastian Tallent, into the world on 25 May 2017.

Athletics career

Tallent finished third in the 20 km walk at the 2008 Olympic Games in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

to claim his first Olympic medal. He received a silver medal for finishing second in the 50 km walk a week later, becoming the first Australian to win two athletic medals in the same Olympics since 1972 and the first male Australian to do so in 102 years. In the 20 km walk and 50 km walk at 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 ...

, he finished in sixth and seventh position respectively. Tallent returned to the medal dais in 2010 when claiming a bronze medal in the 50 km Walk at the 24th World Race Walking Cup held in Chihuahua, Mexico. Later on that year Tallent took home gold in the 20 km walk at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. He opened his 2011 season with a win at the Australian 20 km walk championships, while his wife Claire Tallent secured the women's title. At the 2011 IAAF World Athletics Championships, he won the bronze medal in the Men's 50 km walk. On 24 March 2016, original gold medalist Sergey Bakulin had his results disqualified for doping, advancing Tallent's medal to silver. Also advancing his medal was Denis Nizhegorodov, whose A sample also tested positive. Nizhegorodov was fortunate his B sample could not confirm doping and he retains the medal. At the

2012 London 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 ...

, Tallent finished 7th in the 20 km walk. A week later he won the gold medal in the 50 km walk in a personal best time and Olympic Record of 3:36:53. Tallent was initially awarded the silver medal, but on 24 March 2016 the Court of Arbitration for Sport disqualified all results, in the period from 20 August 2009 to 15 October 2012, of doper Sergey Kirdyapkin, who had been the first walker across the line. Tallent received his gold medal for the 2012 Olympics on 17 June 2016 in a special ceremony held in Melbourne. Tallent won the bronze medal in the Men's 50 km walk at the 2013 IAAF World Athletics Championships in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. It was his second world championships medal. In 2015, Tallent won his third World Championships medal with silver in the 50 km walk at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China. At the 2016

IAAF World Race Walking Cup The World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships is a racewalking event organised by World Athletics. It has been held since 1961, and generally on a biennial basis. The first women's edition of the event happened in 1979. It was formerly know ...

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, Tallent was initially awarded the silver medal behind Alex Schwazer, the 2008 Olympic gold medallist who had just returned from a four-year doping ban. However, in August 2016 the Court of Arbitration for Sport disqualified Schwazer from 1 January 2016, due to him yet again failing a drug test and Tallent was retrospectively awarded the gold medal. At the

2016 Rio Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

, he won the silver medal in the Men's 50 km walk. As a result of winning four Olympic medals, he became Australia's most prolific Olympic male track and field medallist. Tallent withdrew from the 50 km walk at the

2017 World Championships in Athletics The 2017 IAAF World Championships, the sixteenth edition of the IAAF World Championships, were held from 4 to 13 August at London Stadium in London, United Kingdom. London was officially awarded the championships on 11 November 2011. Bidding p ...

due to a hamstring injury. Tallent announced his retirement in March 2021 after failing to overcome a hamstring injury before the 2021 Australian Olympic selection trials. He was coached by Brent Vallance at the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

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between 2004 and 2012.

Achievements

2013 IAAF World Championship in Moscow 50 km Men Walk Jared TALLENT 02

2016 Olympic gold medal presentation

Tallent originally finished second in the 50 km walk at the

. In March 2016,

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...

stripped London gold medallist Sergey Kirdyapkin of all his results for the period of 20 August 2009 to 15 October 2012 for doping. Tallent was then awarded the gold medal. On 17 June 2016, 1460 days after his London 50 km race, Tallent was presented his gold medal on steps of the

Victorian Parliament The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria that follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system. It consists of the King, represented by the governor of Victoria, the Legislative Assembly ...

and this ceremony followed

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

protocol with

Australian Olympic Committee The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) is the National Olympic Committee responsible for developing, promoting, and protecting the Olympic Movement in Australia. The AOC has the exclusive responsibility for the representation of Australia at ...

President John Coates presenting him the gold medal,

Athletics Australia Australian Athletics is the national sporting organisation (NSO) recognised by Australian Sports Commission for the sport of athletics in Australia. Founded in 1897, the organisation is responsible for administering a sport with over 16,000 reg ...

President

Mark Arbib Mark Victor Arbib (born 9 November 1971) is an Australian sports administrator and executive, a former Australian Labor Party, Labor Party politician and trade unionist. In 2015, he joined Australian Athletics, Athletics Australia where he se ...

presenting a bunch of flowers and the national anthem being played whilst the Australian flag was raised. Tallent made the following comments when interviewed during the ceremony:

2018 IAAF gold medal presentation

In May 2018 at an IAAF ceremony in

Taicang Taicang is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China. The city located in the south of the Yangtze River estuary opposite Nantong, being bordered by Shanghai proper to the south, while the river also delineates ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, Tallent was awarded two gold medals from the 2012 and 2016 IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships 50-kilometre race walk, following the confirmed positive doping test of the 2016 first-placed race walker Alex Schwazer (ITA) and a previously confirmed series of abnormalities in the Athlete Biological Passport profile of 2012 first-placed Sergey Kirdyapkin (RUS) and second-placed Igor Erokhin (RUS).

Recognition

*2009 and 2010 - Athletics Australia "Out of Stadium" athlete award *2012 - Australian Flame Athlete of The Year *2016 -

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

*2016 - Australian Flame Male Athlete of The Year

References

External links

* *
Jared Tallent
at Australian Athletics Historical Results
Jared Tallent
at Australian Olympic Committee Rio Games * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tallent, Jared 1984 births Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Australian Institute of Sport track and field athletes Australian male race walkers Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games athletes for Australia Living people Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Australia Olympic bronze medalists for Australia Olympic gold medalists for Australia Olympic silver medalists for Australia Sportspeople from Ballarat World Athletics Championships athletes for Australia World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships winners Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Sportsmen from Victoria (state) Australian Athletics Championships winners 21st-century Australian sportsmen Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in athletics