The men's
discus throw
The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field sport in which the participant athlete throws an oblate spheroid weight (object), weight called a discus in an attempt to mark a further distance than other competitors. It is a ...
was a
track & field athletics event at the
1900 Summer Olympics
The 1900 Summer Olympics (), today officially known as the Games of the II Olympiad () and also known as Paris 1900, were an international multi-sport event that took place in Paris, France, from 14 May to 28 October 1900. No opening or closin ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. It was held on July 14 and July 15, 1900. 17 discus throwers from nine nations competed.
[ The event was won by Rudolf Bauer of Hungary, the nation's first victory in the men's discus throw (in its first appearance in the event). ]František Janda-Suk
František Janda-Suk (, 25 March 1878 – 23 June 1955) was a Czech athlete who competed for Bohemia in the 1900 Summer Olympics and in the 1912 Summer Olympics and Czechoslovakia at the 1924 Summer Olympics.
He was born in Postřižín nea ...
gave Bohemia its first medal in the event, also in that nation's first appearance. Richard Sheldon's bronze put the United States in the top three for the second consecutive Games.
Background
This was the second appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The top two men from 1896, Robert Garrett
Robert S. Garrett (May 24, 1875 – April 25, 1961) was an American athlete, as well as investment banker and philanthropist in Baltimore, Maryland and financier of several important archeological excavations. Garrett was the first modern ...
of the United States and Panagiotis Paraskevopoulos of Greece, returned to competition. The third-place man, Sotirios Versis
Sotirios Versis (, 1876 in Athens, Greece – 1919) was a Greek athlete and weightlifter. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens and the 1900 Summer Olympics held in Paris.
Versis was born in Athens to a wealthy family, he studied a ...
of Greece, was entered but did not start.
Competition format
There event was described as having two rounds, but was more similar to the modern divided final (with first "round" results carried over). The format of the competition is unclear; it appears that each thrower received three throws and the finalists received three more. The top five throwers in the qualifying round qualified for the final. The throwing area was a 2.50 metre square instead of a circle. The landing area was unusually narrow ("basically a lane through two rows of trees"), causing difficulties in making legal throws.[
]
Records
These were the standing world and Olympic records (in metres) prior to the 1900 Summer Olympics.
* unofficial
With the world now familiar with the discus, the Olympic record of 1896 was not a meaningful distance; every thrower who made a legal mark surpassed that distance. Rudolf Bauer set a new Olympic record with 36.04 metres.
Schedule
Results
All throwers competed in the qualifying round, with the top five moving on to the final. The defending champion, Garrett, kept hitting the trees with his discus, and did not achieve a legal mark. The top five throwers received additional throws on the second day. No positions changed during the final, despite the leader not being able to improve upon his qualifying marks. Throw sequences are not known. Von Lubowiecki missed the qualifying round but was permitted to throw on the second day; he did not achieve a top-five result.[
]
References
Sources
International Olympic Committee
* De Wael, Herman. ''Herman's Full Olympians'': "Athletics 1900". Accessed 18 March 2006. Available electronically a
.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1900 Summer Olympics - Men's discus throw
Men's throwing discus
Discus throw at the Olympics