Steve Taylor: taking a third Olympics in his stride

The Paris Olympics athletics programme kicks off with the men's and women's 20km Race Walks. And one of our own British officials will be volunteering there as an International Race Walking Judge on that first day. He's no stranger to Olympic officiating; this will be his third. However he is also excited to be involved in the new marathon mixed race walking relay which is making its Olympic debut at Paris 2024 on 8 August, replacing the individual 50km walk.

We got the chance to hear about Steve's officiating journey and what he's looking forward to in Paris. Steve started as a runner and was asked if he would make up a team to compete in the Merseyside Schools' race walking championships representing the Isle of Man.

"I completed over 5km and came last, but on receiving compliments on my technique I was hooked."

His three children have all had a go at race walking. It was when his eldest son Callum competed off the Isle of Man for the first time, in Sheffield and was disqualified, Steve vowed to become an official.

"I was distraught and as we had no active race walk judges on the island at the at time I decided then and there that I wanted to become a judge mainly to help athletes prepare for when they compete away from the Isle of Man."

So, what does a Race Walk official do?

There are two aspects to the rule of race walking, one that the athlete must maintain contact with the ground at all times and second that the lead leg must be straight on first contact with the ground until in the vertically upright position.

Judgement is made solely by the human eye which does lead to controversy when still frames and slow-motion videos can show a loss of contact that is undetectable by the human eye.

"Whilst we do issue red cards for disqualification, I see our role as not to disqualify but, with the judicial use of the yellow caution paddle to assist as many athletes to get to the finish in the fairest way possible."

How much difference is there between officiating at grass roots and at an Olympics?

The Olympics is something else, it is on another level and many sports men and women say it is the pinnacle of their careers, well, it’s the same for officials.

"Preparation for the Games is the same for officiating any level event and when on duty I would watch, caution and issue red disqualification cards as required."

"However, at some grassroots events, encouragement and development are more important and as such strong words of caution are often used."

What do you enjoy most about officiating?

"I have made friends all over the world through officiating but my greatest enjoyment is at grassroots and local levels when athletes set a new personal best or win medals and I hope that in some small way my encouragement and feedback has helped them achieve that."

"Also knowing that you have witnessed something special. Two great examples are that I was officiating when Yohann Diniz set both his track and road world records for 50km. The atmosphere on the track in Riems and on the roads of Zürich were something special and the experiences will live with me forever."

You’ve been to a number of international events over the past few years, which has been the most challenging?

"I think the most challenging experience was my time as Chief Judge at the World Championships in Moscow 2013."

"Race walking circuits used to be up and down but this reverted back to starting and finishing in the stadium with the circuit being some 600m away.

"Never having dealt with this before I was uncertain on how to allocate the judges to ensure the start and the finish were adequately covered whilst maintaining sufficient judges on the circuit."

"I have been fortunate in that Peter Marlow (pictured) has been my long-time mentor and friend and with his assistance everything was sorted, or as he put it: I had earned my stripes."

"Moscow had a couple of extra challenges. During the women’s 20km event the data feed for the red cards stalled meaning that the recorder wasn’t receiving any information as to who had received red cards. Not a problem for the athletes as it meant no one would be getting disqualified. However, the worst-case scenario would be having to disqualify several athletes after they had finished because of the late notification of the red cards."

"This time experience was on my side and I commandeered the course measurer's bicycle and sent one of the volunteers off around the circuit to manually collect the red cards."

"Unfortunately, the collection wasn’t quite quick enough. Standing in the home straight having watched Russia win gold and silver I received a message in my earpiece. As I am listening, the third placed athlete entered the stadium. It was the third Russian athlete and they were about to take a clean sweep of the medals.

"The message was to disqualify the third placed Russian at a home championships in Moscow. Standing in front of her and blocking her passage I showed her the red paddle and ushered her off the track. She burst in to tears and I was rewarded with a chorus of booing from the whole stadium."

Steve finished by saying; "Not a challenge but heart wrenching was seeing Tom Bosworth walking down the road after being disqualified whilst leading the 2017 World Championships in London. Tom was a home favourite and clear medal contender until he was shown the red paddle."

And a favourite anecdote from your home or international experiences?

"When I started out I was judging at the younger age group championships at Leamington Spa - races at which my eldest children were competing. As my daughter went past I showed her a yellow paddle for loss of contact. Unbeknown to me at the time this was the third yellow paddle she had been issued."

She had not received any red cards but upon crossing the line in tears the team manager asked “what’s wrong Kirsty?” to which she replied “my dad has just disqualified me!.”

This story got back to the Isle of Man before Steve did and he was met with much derision when joining his friends down the pub for a drink.

What in particular are you looking forward to in Paris?

"Paris will stage the inaugural mixed marathon relay and I am very pleased to be part of this initiative at Olympic level."

"25 teams will participate in the relay race, each made up of one male and one female athlete, who will complete the marathon distance in four stages of approximately 10km each, alternating in the race (man, woman, man, woman). The event will take place on the same course as the individual races, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

"I will also endeavour to try escargot [snail] and frogs' legs whilst there."

Photos provided by Steve Taylor
Top pic by Adrian Royle