The men's discus throw was a competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The event was held at the

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...

on 6–7 August. Forty-one athletes from 24 nations competed. The event was won by

Robert Harting Robert Harting (; born 18 October 1984) is a retired German discus thrower. He represents the sports club SCC Berlin, his coach is Torsten Schmidt. He is a former Olympic, World, and European champion in the men's discus throw. His younger bro ...

of Germany, the nation's first victory in the men's discus throw since 1996 and second overall (not counting those won by East and West Germany). Ehsan Haddadi earned Iran's first medal in the event with his silver.

Gerd Kanter Gerd Kanter (born 6 May 1979) is a retired Estonian discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance th ...

of Estonia became the 15th man to win multiple medals in the event, adding a bronze to his 2008 gold.

Virgilijus Alekna Virgilijus Alekna (; 13 February 1972) is a Lithuanian former discus thrower and politician. He won medals at the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Olympics, including two golds. After retiring from athletics, Alekna was elected to the national parliament, t ...

of Lithuania narrowly missed being the second man to win four medals in the event, finishing fourth. The medals for the competition were presented by

Irena Szewińska Irena Szewińska (née Kirszenstein; Polish pronunciation: ; 24 May 1946 – 29 June 2018) was a Polish sprinter who was one of the world's foremost athletes for nearly two decades, in multiple events. She is the only athlete in history, m ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

; IOC Member, and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Helmut Digel,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

; IAAF Council Member.

Background

This was the 27th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The returning finalists from the 2008 Games were gold medalist

of Estonia, silver medalist Piotr Małachowski of Poland, bronze medalist (and 2000 and 2004 gold medalist and 1996 finalist)

of Lithuania, fourth-place finisher

of Germany, fifth-place finisher Frank Casañas of Spain, sixth-place finisher Bogdan Pishchalnikov of Russia, seventh-place finisher

Rutger Smith Rutger Smith (born 9 July 1981 in Groningen) is a retired Dutch track and field athlete who competed in the shot put and discus throw. He is the first athlete to win medals at the World Championships in both events. He represented the Netherlan ...

of the Netherlands, ninth-place finisher Mario Pestano of Spain, and twelfth-place finisher (and 2004 bronze medalist and 2000 finalist)

Aleksander Tammert Aleksander Tammert (born 2 February 1973) is an Estonian discus thrower. Athletics career Tammert competed at the 2004 Olympics and originally finishing fourth, but as gold medal winner Róbert Fazekas was disqualified, Tammert received the br ...

of Estonia. Harting, who had won the last two world championships, was the favorite. Kanter, Alekna, and Ehsan Haddadi of Iran were also contenders. Cyprus, Jamaica, and Montenegro each made their debut in the men's discus throw. The United States made its 26th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Qualification

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the men's discus throw 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 discus throw was 65.00 metres; the B standard was 63.00 metres. The qualifying period for was from 1 May 2011 to 8 July 2012. NOCs could also have an athlete enter the discus throw 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.

Competition format

Each athlete received three throws in the qualifying round. All who achieved the qualifying distance of 65.00 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 last round, with the top eight athletes after that point being given three further attempts.

Records

, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows. No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (

UTC+1 UTC+01:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +01:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2019-02-07T23:28:34+01:00. This time is used in: *Central European Time *West Africa Time *Western European Summer Time **B ...

)

Summary

Six made the automatic qualifier to the finals, Ehsan Haddadi, Jorge Fernandez and

on their first attempt. The top qualifier was defending champion

, but it took him three throws to get a distance that would qualify. The #10 qualifier was two-time champion

. In the final, most improved their distances by several meters. Alekna launched a 67.38 on the third throw of the competition. Four throws later, Haddadi took the lead with a 68.18, with Harting moving into second place with 67.79. That was the situation through the first four rounds. Kanter made minor improvements, but was out of the medals until his fifth throw of 68.03, knocking Alekna out of his fourth straight medal. Two throws later, Harting launched the winner, going just 9 cm beyond Haddadi with a 68.27. The 2.01m, 130 kg. Harting celebrated his medal on his victory lap skillfully jumping over the row of women's hurdles already on the track and doing a Hulk Hogan shirt rip.

Results

Qualifying

Qual. rule: qualification standard 65.00m (Q) or at least best 12 qualified (q).

Final

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics - Men's discus throw Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics Discus throw at the Olympics Men's events at the 2012 Summer Olympics