The men's discus throw competition at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

took place on October 14–15. Twenty-seven athletes from 19 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by

Al Oerter Alfred Oerter Jr. (September 19, 1936 – October 1, 2007) was an American athlete and a four-time Olympic Games, Olympic Champion in the discus throw. He was the first athlete to win a gold medal in the same individual event in four consecut ...

of the United States, the nation's fifth consecutive and 12th overall victory in the men's discus throw. Oerter finished his run of four victories in the event, the first person to win four consecutive gold medals in any individual Olympic event (

Carl Lewis Frederick Carlton Lewis (born July 1, 1961) is an American former track and field athlete who won nine Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver medal, and 10 World Championships medals, including eight gold. His career spanned from 1979 to 1996, ...

in the long jump and

Michael Phelps Michael Fred Phelps II (born June 30, 1985) is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold me ...

in the 200 metre individual medley swimming did so later;

Paul Elvstrøm Paul Bert Elvstrøm (25 February 1928 – 7 December 2016) was a Danish yachtsman. He won four Olympic gold medals and twenty world titles in a range of classes including Snipe, Soling, Star, Flying Dutchman, Finn, 505, and 5.5 Metre. ...

had won previously four individual gold medals in sailing but had been forced to switch events when the programme changed, and

Kaori Icho is a Japanese freestyle wrestler. She is a ten-time World Champion and four-time Olympic Champion, winning gold in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. Icho was undefeated between 2003 and 2016. On 29 January 2016 at the Golden Grand Prix Ivan Yarygin 20 ...

would later win four individual gold medals in wrestling but changed weight classes during her run). For the first time during Oerter's reign, he was the only American on the podium as

Lothar Milde Lothar Milde (born 8 November 1934) was an East German athlete who competed mainly in the discus throw. He was born in Halle an der Saale. Milde competed at three Olympic Games winning the silver medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City ...

of East Germany (the first men's discus throw medal for any German athlete) and

Ludvík Daněk Ludvík Daněk () (6 January 1937 – 16 November 1998) was a Czechoslovak discus thrower, who won the gold medal at the 1972 Olympic Games with a throw of 64.40 m (211'3"). Daněk was born in Blansko, and competed in four Summer Olympics ...

of Czechoslovakia took the other two medals. Daněk was the seventh man to win at least two discus throw medals; Oerter remains the only one to win four.

Background

This was the 16th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Returning finalists from the 1964 Games were three-time gold medalist

of the United States, silver medalist Ludvik Danek of Czechoslovakia, fourth-place finisher

Jay Silvester L. Jay Silvester (born August 27, 1937) and participated in college athletics at Utah State University from 1956 to 1959 is an American retired athlete who mainly competed in the discus throw. In this event he finished in fourth, fifth, second ...

of the United States, seventh-place finisher Edmund Piatkowski of Poland, and eleventh-place finisher

Hartmut Losch Hartmut Losch (11 September 1943 in Angermünde – 26 March 1997 in Neu Fahrland) was a German athlete who competed in the 1964 Summer Olympics, in the 1968 Summer Olympics, and in the 1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), offi ...

of the United Team of Germany (now representing East Germany). Silvester had taken the world record from Danek earlier in the year, and (as in 1964) defeated Oerter in the U.S. Olympic trials. He was the favorite, expected to dethrone Oerter. Cuba, El Salvador, Mali, and Nicaragua each made their debut in the men's discus throw; East and West Germany competed separately for the first time. The United States made its 16th appearance, having competed in every edition of the Olympic men's discus throw to date.

Competition format

The competition consisted of two rounds, qualification and final. Each athlete received three throws in the qualifying round. All who achieve the qualifying distance of 58.00 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 the last round, with the top eight athletes after that point being given three further attempts.

Records

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

broke the Olympic record in the qualifying round, throwing 63.34 metres. The top five men in the final also surpassed the old record, but only one—not Silvester—beat the new record.

once again won with an Olympic record performance, breaking 64 metres three times in the final: 64.78 metres in the third throw, 64.74 metres in the fifth, and 64.04 metres in the sixth.

Schedule

All times are

Central Standard Time The North American Central Time Zone (CT) is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, some Caribbean Islands, and part of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Central Standard Time (CST) is six hours behind Coordinate ...

( UTC-6)

Results

Qualifying round

Qual. rule: qualification standard 58.00m (Q) or at least best 12 qualified (q).

Final

Silvester's qualifying round distance of 63.34 did not count for the final, otherwise it would have given him the silver medal. Instead, his best result in the final was 61.78 metres, good only for fifth place. Oerter won for the fourth consecutive Games, beating

by 1.70 metres.

References

External links

Official Olympic Report
''la84foundation.org''. Retrieved August 13, 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics - Men's discus throw Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics Discus throw at the Olympics Men's events at the 1968 Summer Olympics