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 an event at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. There were 40 competitors from 30 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was held on July 31, 1996. The event was won by

Lars Riedel Lars Peter Riedel (born 28 June 1967) a former German discus thrower. Riedel has the seventh longest discus throw of all-time with a personal best of 71.50 m. Biography Riedel began his discus career in the former East Germany, German Democrati ...

of Germany, the nation's first victory in the men's discus throw (though both East and West Germany had previously won). Belarus won two medals in its debut, with Vladimir Dubrovshchik earning silver and Vasiliy Kaptyukh taking bronze.

Background

This was the 23rd appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The returning finalists from the 1992 Games were silver medalist (and 1988 gold medalist Jürgen Schult of Germany, bronze medalist Roberto Moya of Cuba, fourth-place finisher

Costel Grasu Costel Grasu (born 5 June 1967 in Fetești, Ialomița County, Ialomița) is a Romanian discus thrower. He is perhaps best known for finishing fourth at the 1992 Summer Olympics. He also competed at the Olympics in 1996 and 2000, without reaching ...

of Romania, fifth-place finisher Attila Horváth of Hungary, ninth-place finisher David Martínez of Spain, eleventh-place finisher

Vésteinn Hafsteinsson Vésteinn Hafsteinsson (born 12 December 1960) is a retired discus thrower from Iceland. He was born in Selfoss (town), Selfoss, and represented his native country at four consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1984. His personal best is 67.64 ...

of Iceland, and twelfth-place finisher Anthony Washington of the United States.

of Germany, who had not made the final in 1992, had won the last three world championships (and would win, take third place, and win again in the next three). Belarus, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Mongolia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan each made their debut in the men's discus throw. The United States made its 22nd appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Competition format

The competition used the two-round format introduced in 1936, with the qualifying round completely separate from the divided final. In qualifying, each athlete received three attempts; those recording a mark of at least 62.50 metres advanced to the final. If fewer than 12 athletes achieved that distance, the top 12 would advance. The results of the qualifying round were then ignored. Finalists received three throws each, with the top eight competitors receiving an additional three attempts. The best distance among those six throws counted.Official Report, vol. 3, p. 94.

Records

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

's fifth and sixth throws in the final both exceeded the old record, reaching 69.40 metres and 69.24 metres.

Schedule

All times are

Eastern Daylight Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. * Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five hours behin ...

( UTC-4)

Results

Qualifying

Final

References

External links

Official Report

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics - Men's discus throw D Discus throw at the Olympics Men's events at the 1996 Summer Olympics