The men's 50 kilometres race walk at the 2012 Olympic Games in London was held on 11 August[1] on a route along The Mall and Constitution Hill.

With 63 starters, there was a large pack at the start, Matej Tóth walking along the side barrier was the first to take the front.

Around 28K Bakulin created a gap, with Barrondo the only chaser, but at that point he already collected 2 red cards.

From off the pace, previous silver medalist, walking with two red cards himself Jared Tallent passed the slowing Barrondo (who was eventually disqualified) to gain on the group ahead.

Passing Tallent, Kirdyapkin was gaining back on the pack to join the other two Russians and Diniz, launching a group charge after Si.

Dazed on the ground, he did return to walking but later took a break at a water stop, the competition pulling away.

In a wide-ranging investigation of Russian race walking involving some 30 athletes coached by Viktor Chegin and the Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA, IAAF officials questioned the curious gap in the period of time of Kirdyapkin's RUSADA doping bans that allowed him to keep his gold medal.

[5] Accordingly, Tallent was awarded the gold medal by the IOC at a ceremony in Melbourne, Australia, on 17 June 2016,[6] with Si claiming silver and Heffernan bronze.