LONDON — You would think the racewalking community would embrace the Olympics. After all, the sport is largely ignored and often ridiculed, so getting the chance to race on international television once every four years ought to be cause for celebration.

But when the Games arrive, racewalkers and their judges brace for an onslaught. Television, it turns out, is racewalkers’ worst enemy because cameras often zoom in on their feet, and the picture is not pretty. In slow motion, viewers can see racers with both feet off the ground, seemingly breaking one of the sport’s two cardinal rules: thou shalt have at least one foot in contact with the ground at all times.

Over the course of a 20-kilometer (12.4-mile) or 50-kilometer (31.1-mile) race, the sight of racewalkers apparently flouting the rules can lead to howls from the public and the news media, with calls for racewalking to be thrown out of the Olympics.

“If you don’t like racewalking, it becomes easy to look at these freeze-frame photos,” said Gary Westerfield, one of 30 international judges certified to officiate Olympic racewalking events.