The women's 20 km walk event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on August 21 at the Beijing Olympic Stadium. The qualifying standards were 1:33.30 (A standard) and 1:38.00 (B standard).

Records Prior to this event, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:

Schedule All times are China standard time (UTC+8) Date Time RoundThursday, 21 August 2008 09:00Final

Results RankAthleteCountryNotes Olga Kaniskina 1:26:31 Kjersti Plätzer 1:27:07NR Elisa Rigaudo 1:27:12PB Liu Hong 1:27:17PB María Vasco 1:27:25NR Beatriz Pascual 1:27:44PB Olive Loughnane 1:27:45PB Ana Cabecinha 1:27:46NR Vera Santos 1:28:14PB10 Ryta Turava 1:28:26SB11 Tatyana Sibileva 1:28:28 12 Shi Na 1:29:08SB13 Mayumi Kawasaki 1:29:43 14 Sabine Zimmer 1:30:19 15 Sonata Milušauskaité 1:30:26NR16 Vira Zozulya 1:30:31 17 María José Poves 1:30:52 18 Kristina Saltanovic 1:31:03SB19 Jane Saville 1:31:17 20 Sylwia Korzeniowska 1:31:19 21 Johanna Jackson 1:31:33NR22 Melanie Seeger 1:31:56 23 Ana Maria Groza 1:32:16 24 Evaggelía Xinoú 1:32:19PB25 Sachiko Konishi 1:32:21 26 Zuzana Schindlerová 1:32:57PB27 Claire Woods 1:33:02=PB28 Kim Mi-Jung 1:33:55 29 Svetlana Tolstaya 1:34:03SB30 Joanne Dow 1:34:15SB31 Zuzana Malíková 1:34:33SB32 Sniazhana Yurchanka 1:35:33 33 Nadiya Prokopuk 1:35:50 34 Sandra Zapata 1:36:18 35 Johana Ordóñez 1:36:26 36 Tania Regina Spindler 1:36:46 37 Verónica Colindres 1:36:52SB38 Edina Füsti 1:37:03 39 Kellie Wapshott 1:37:59 40 Déspina Zapounídou 1:39:11 41 Jolanta Dukure 1:41:03 42 Evelyn Núñez 1:44:13 Tatyana Kalmykova DQ Yang Mingxia DQ Elena Ginko DQ Athanasía Tsoumeléka 1:27:54DSQ Yuan Yufang DNF Susana Feitor DNF OR - Olympic Record, NR - National Record, PB - Personal Best (= - Equaled), SB - Season Best

Intermediates Intermediate Athlete Country Mark 4 km 1. Olga Kaniskina 17:002. María Vasco +0:273. Vera Santos s.t.4. Ryta Turava s.t.5. Elisa Rigaudo s.t. 8 km 1. Olga Kaniskina 34:092. Kjersti Plätzer +0:413. Ryta Turava s.t.4. Tatyana Kalmykova +0:425. Beatriz Pascual s.t. 12 km 1. Olga Kaniskina 51:192. Ryta Turava +0:413. Kjersti Plätzer +0:494. María Vasco s.t.5. Tatyana Kalmykova +0:56 16 km 1. Olga Kaniskina 1:08:312. Ryta Turava +0:593. Kjersti Plätzer +1:094. María Vasco s.t.5. Hong Liu +1:20

s.t. - same time.

References