Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's shot put

Men's shot put at the Games of the XXVI Olympiad
Pictogram of athletics
Venues	Centennial Olympic Stadium
Date	July 26
Competitors	36 from 26 nations
Winning distance	21.62
Medalists
Randy Barnes  United States John Godina  United States Oleksandr Bagach  Ukraine

The men's shot put event at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. There were 36 competitors from 26 nations, with twelve athletes reaching the final. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event took place on July 26, 1996. The event was won by Randy Barnes of the United States, the nation's second consecutive and 16th overall victory in the men's shot put. Barnes was the 11th man to win multiple medals in the event, and the first to do so in nonconsecutive Games. His teammate John Godina took silver, while Oleksandr Bagach earned Ukraine's first medal in the event with a 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 only returning finalist from the 1992 Games was seventh-place finisher Dragan Perić, then an Independent Olympic Participant and now representing Yugoslavia. The 1988 silver medalist Randy Barnes of the United States, who set a world record in 1990 that is still extant in 2020, also returned after missing the 1992 Games while suspended. Barnes was the favorite, with the best throw of the year to date.

American Samoa, Belarus, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Venezuela each made their debut in the men's shot put. 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 19.80 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.

Records

The standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1996 Games were as follows.

World record	Randy Barnes (USA)	23.12	Los Angeles, United States	22 May 1988
Olympic record	Ulf Timmermann (GDR)	22.47	Seoul, South Korea	23 September 1988

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

Schedule

All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)

Date	Time	Round
Friday, 26 July 1996	10:05 19:10	Qualifying Final

Results

Qualification

Rank	Athlete	Nation	1	2	3	Distance	Notes
1	Paolo Dal Soglio	Italy	19.43	20.58	—	20.58	Q
2	John Godina	United States	20.54	—	—	20.54	Q
3	Oliver-Sven Buder	Germany	19.76	20.43	—	20.43	Q
4	Randy Barnes	United States	X	19.70	20.42	20.42	Q
5	Oleksandr Bagach	Ukraine	20.23	—	—	20.23	Q
6	C. J. Hunter	United States	19.95	—	—	19.95	Q
7	Roman Virastyuk	Ukraine	19.81	—	—	19.81	Q
8	Dragan Perić	FR Yugoslavia	19.61	X	19.61	19.61	q
9	Dzimitry Hancharuk	Belarus	19.57	X	19.17	19.57	q
10	Oleksandr Klymenko	Ukraine	19.11	19.45	X	19.45	q
11	Corrado Fantini	Italy	18.63	19.40	19.00	19.40	q
12	Bilal Saad Mubarak	Qatar	19.39	19.23	19.28	19.39	q
13	Dirk Urban	Germany	19.39	18.82	19.23	19.39
14	Mika Halvari	Finland	19.37	X	18.78	19.37
15	Manuel Martínez	Spain	19.12	18.93	18.90	19.12
16	Michael Mertens	Germany	18.57	18.90	19.07	19.07
17	Kent Larsson	Sweden	18.60	18.86	19.05	19.05
18	Arsi Harju	Finland	18.56	19.01	X	19.01
19	Giorgio Venturi	Italy	18.60	18.98	18.52	18.98
20	Yevgeny Palchikov	Russia	18.75	18.83	18.96	18.96
21	Miroslav Menc	Czech Republic	18.69	18.13	18.42	18.69
22	Gert Weil	Chile	18.64	18.67	18.58	18.67
23	Yojer Medina	Venezuela	X	18.49	18.53	18.53
24	Ilias Louka	Cyprus	18.48	17.98	X	18.48
25	Chima Ugwu	Nigeria	18.39	18.35	18.33	18.39
26	Aleksey Shidlovsky	Russia	17.84	18.34	18.37	18.37
27	Shaun Pickering	Great Britain	18.29	18.23	17.45	18.29
28	Mikhalis Louka	Cyprus	18.23	18.03	18.12	18.23
29	Khalid Al-Khalidi	Saudi Arabia	18.22	X	17.83	18.22
30	Saulius Kleiza	Lithuania	18.08	18.21	18.18	18.21
31	Bradley Snyder	Canada	17.98	X	X	17.98
32	Viktor Bulat	Belarus	16.70	16.67	17.29	17.29
33	Sergey Kot	Uzbekistan	16.51	X	16.05	16.51
34	Anthony Leiato	American Samoa	12.28	X	13.02	13.02
—	Jenő Kóczián	Hungary	X	X	X	No mark
	Sergey Rubtsov	Kazakhstan	X	—	—	No mark

Final

Rank	Athlete	Nation	1	2	3	4	5	6	Distance
	Randy Barnes	United States	19.46	20.44	X	20.26	20.32	21.62	21.62
	John Godina	United States	X	19.91	19.98	20.64	20.79	X	20.79
	Oleksandr Bagach	Ukraine	20.41	20.50	20.29	X	X	20.75	20.75
4	Paolo Dal Soglio	Italy	20.12	20.65	19.92	20.74	20.60	X	20.74
5	Oliver-Sven Buder	Germany	20.16	19.92	20.37	20.13	20.51	19.71	20.51
6	Roman Virastyuk	Ukraine	19.46	19.86	20.32	20.21	20.45	X	20.45
7	C. J. Hunter	United States	19.99	20.09	20.39	X	20.25	20.35	20.39
8	Dragan Perić	FR Yugoslavia	19.66	19.75	19.98	X	X	20.07	20.07
9	Dzimitry Hancharuk	Belarus	X	19.79	X	Did not advance			19.79
10	Bilal Saad Mubarak	Qatar	19.11	19.33	X	Did not advance			19.33
11	Corrado Fantini	Italy	19.30	X	X	Did not advance			19.30
—	Oleksandr Klymenko	Ukraine	X	X	X	Did not advance			No mark

See also

• 1995 World Championships in Athletics – Men's shot put
• 1997 World Championships in Athletics – Men's shot put

External links

• Official Report
• Results