Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's shot put

The men's shot put competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom was held at the Olympic Stadium on 3 August.[1] Forty athletes from 34 nations competed.[2] The event was won by Tomasz Majewski of Poland, the nation's second consecutive and third overall victory in the men's shot put. Majewski was the third man to successfully defend Olympic shot put gold (after Ralph Rose and Parry O'Brien), both of whom added a silver medal after their two golds). David Storl of Germany took silver, the first medal for united Germany since 1936 (though East Germany had won multiple medals). Reese Hoffa took bronze to keep the American podium streak going at eight consecutive Games.

Men's shot put
at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Men's shot put victory ceremony
VenueOlympic Stadium
Date3 August
Competitors40 from 34 nations
Winning distance21.89
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Tomasz Majewski  Poland
2nd place, silver medalist(s) David Storl  Germany
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Reese Hoffa  United States
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Official Video Highlights

Summary

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In the qualification rounds, the first athletics event of the Olympics, the athletes with the best credentials coming in; (2007 World Champion) Reese Hoffa, (2011 World Champion) David Storl and (defending champion) Tomasz Majewski placed themselves in the favorite role, by tossing an automatic qualifier on their first attempt. Ryan Whiting and German Lauro had to take all three attempts to make their automatic qualifier, Lauro's becoming the new National Record for Argentina. It took 20.25 to make it to the finals, held in the evening.

The results of the first preliminary round foretold the final results. Those three athletes led from the first round, with Storl literally flexing his muscles in the ring as he took the early lead, then improving his position slightly in the second round. Lauro added 7 cm to the national record he had set in the morning in the second round and another 2 cm in the third, but in the end that was only good enough for sixth place. Majewski edged into the lead with his third attempt, while Hoffa made his best attempt in the fourth round. (2009 World Champion) Christian Cantwell came within 4 cm of grabbing the bronze medal from his American teammate in the final round, then Majewski put a cap on his victory with the best throw in the competition 21.89 on the final throw.[3] Majewski is the first to repeat as champion since Parry O'Brien in 1956, with Ralph Rose from 1908 the only other, and the first non-American to do that.

Background

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This was the 27th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The top five finishers from 2008 returned: Tomasz Majewski of Poland, Christian Cantwell of the United States, Andrei Mikhnevich of Belarus (whose bronze medal would later be stripped and reassigned to Armstrong), Dylan Armstrong of Canada, and Pavel Lyzhyn of Belarus (also later disqualified), along with original seventh-place finisher Reese Hoffa of the United States and original ninth-place finisher Rutger Smith of the Netherlands. Since then, Cantwell had won the 2009 world championships and David Storl of Germany had won the 2011 worlds. Majewski and Armstrong had taken silver at those events. Those four men, along with the other Americans (Hoffa and Ryan Whiting, the 2012 indoor world champion) were the favored contenders.[2]

Albania made its debut in the men's shot put. The United States made its 26th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Qualification

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A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the men's shot put event if all athletes met the A standard, or 1 athlete if they met the B standard. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The qualifying distance standards could be obtained in various meets during the qualifying period that had the approval of the IAAF. Both outdoor and indoor meets were eligible. The A standard for the 2012 men's shot put was 20.50 metres; the B standard was 20.00 metres. The qualifying period for was from 1 May 2011 to 8 July 2012. NOCs could also have an athlete enter the shot put through a universality place. NOCs could enter one male athlete in an athletics event, regardless of time, if they had no male athletes meeting the qualifying A or B standards in any men's athletic event.[4][5][6]

Competition format

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Each athlete received three throws in the qualifying round. All who achieved the qualifying distance of 20.65 metres progressed to the final. If fewer than twelve athletes achieved this mark, then the twelve furthest throwing athletes reached the final. Each finalist was allowed three throws in last round, with the top eight athletes after that point being given three further attempts.[7]

Records

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Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record   Randy Barnes (USA) 23.12 Westwood, United States 20 May 1990
Olympic record   Ulf Timmermann (GDR) 22.47 Seoul, South Korea 23 September 1988

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition. The following national record were set during this competition.

Nation Athlete Round Distance
Argentina National Record Germán Lauro Qualifying 20.75
Argentina National Record Germán Lauro Final 20.82
Argentina National Record Germán Lauro Final 20.84

Schedule

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All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

Date Time Round
Friday, 3 August 2012 10:00
20:30
Qualifying
Final

Results

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Qualifying round

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Qual. rule: qualification standard 20.65m (Q) or at least best 12 qualified (q).

Rank Group Athlete Nation 1 2 3 Distance Notes
1 B Reese Hoffa   United States 21.36 21.36 Q
2 A David Storl   Germany 21.15 21.15 Q
3 A Tomasz Majewski   Poland 21.03 21.03 Q
4 B Ryan Whiting   United States 20.29 20.25 20.78 20.78 Q
5 A Germán Lauro   Argentina 20.10 X 20.75 20.75 Q, NR
6 A Pavel Lyzhyn   Belarus 19.85 20.10 20.57 20.57 q
7 B Dylan Armstrong   Canada 19.99 X 20.49 20.49 q
8 B Asmir Kolašinac   Serbia 20.44 20.44 q
9 A Christian Cantwell   United States 20.41 20.30 19.88 20.41 q
10 B Maksim Sidorov   Russia X 19.59 20.40 20.40 q
11 A Dorian Scott   Jamaica 20.18 20.30 20.31 20.31 q
12 B Chang Ming-Huang   Chinese Taipei 19.14 X 20.25 20.25 q
13 A Soslan Tsirikhov   Russia 19.25 19.78 20.17 20.17
14 A Rutger Smith   Netherlands 20.08 X 19.55 20.08
15 A Marco Fortes   Portugal 19.59 20.06 19.50 20.06
16 B Ralf Bartels   Germany X 20.00 19.89 20.00
17 B Nedžad Mulabegović   Croatia 19.18 19.86 19.72 19.86
18 B Om Prakash Singh   India 19.40 19.86 X 19.86
19 B Hüseyin Atıcı   Turkey 19.47 19.49 19.74 19.74
20 A Lajos Kürthy   Hungary 19.65 X X 19.65
21 A Georgi Ivanov   Bulgaria 19.42 19.40 19.63 19.63
22 B Antonín Žalský   Czech Republic X 19.62 19.49 19.62
23 A Kemal Mešić   Bosnia and Herzegovina 19.49 X 19.60 19.60
24 A Mihail Stamatoyiannis   Greece 18.67 X 19.24 19.24
25 A Dale Stevenson   Australia 18.38 19.17 19.01 19.17
26 A Māris Urtāns   Latvia 18.92 19.13 X 19.13
27 B Kim Christensen   Denmark 18.40 X 19.13 19.13
28 B Carl Myerscough   Great Britain 18.75 18.95 X 18.95
29 B Raigo Toompuu   Estonia 18.87 18.91 X 18.91
30 A Borja Vivas   Spain 18.46 X 18.88 18.88
31 A Stephen Saenz   Mexico X 18.65 X 18.65
32 B Amin Nikfar   Iran 18.62 X X 18.62
33 B Carlos Véliz   Cuba 18.26 X 18.57 18.57
34 B Emanuele Fuamatu   Samoa 17.78 X X 17.78
35 A Odinn Bjorn Thorsteinsson   Iceland X 17.04 17.62 17.62
36 A Adriatik Hoxha   Albania 17.58 X 17.13 17.58
A Justin Rodhe   Canada X X X No mark
B Zhang Jun   China X X X No mark
B Andriy Semenov   Ukraine X X X No mark
B Andrei Mikhnevich   Belarus 19.81 19.55 19.89 19.89 DQ

Final

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Rank Athlete Nation 1 2 3 4 5 6 Distance Notes
  Tomasz Majewski   Poland 21.19 21.72 21.87 X 21.72 21.89 21.89
  David Storl   Germany 21.84 21.86 21.41 X X X 21.86 PB
  Reese Hoffa   United States 20.98 20.95 21.23 21.11 19.53 X 21.23
4 Christian Cantwell   United States 20.21 20.95 X X 20.65 21.19 21.19
5 Dylan Armstrong   Canada 20.16 20.93 20.74 X X 20.34 20.93
6 Germán Lauro   Argentina 19.40 20.82 20.84 20.34 20.65 X 20.84 NR
7 Asmir Kolašinac   Serbia 20.18 20.71 X 20.54 20.46 X 20.71
8 Pavel Lyzhyn   Belarus 20.69 X X 19.93 20.04 X 20.69
9 Ryan Whiting   United States 20.21 20.21 20.64 Did not advance 20.64
10 Dorian Scott   Jamaica 19.51 20.61 X Did not advance 20.61
11 Maksim Sidorov   Russia X 20.41 X Did not advance 20.41
12 Chang Ming-Huang   Chinese Taipei 19.99 X 19.64 Did not advance 19.99

References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics". Archived from the original on 2012-09-05. Retrieved 2012-05-11.
  2. ^ a b "Shot Put, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  3. ^ "World Athletics".
  4. ^ "QUALIFICATION SYSTEM – GAMES OF THE XXX OLYMPIAD" (PDF). IAAF. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  5. ^ "Olympic Qualifying Procedures for Athletics". Telegraph. 15 April 2011. Archived from the original on 19 April 2011. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
  6. ^ "Amended Qualifying Standards". IAAF. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  7. ^ "Men's Shot Put competition format". London 2012 Organising Committee. Archived from the original on 5 September 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2012.