Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's discus throw

Men's discus throw at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad
Venue	Estádio Olímpico João Havelange
Dates	12–13 August 2016
Competitors	35 from 24 nations
Winning distance	68.37
Medalists
Christoph Harting  Germany Piotr Małachowski  Poland Daniel Jasinski  Germany

Official Video Highlights

The men's discus throw competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was held at the Estádio Olímpico João Havelange on 12–13 August. Thirty-five athletes from 24 nations competed. Germany's Christoph Harting succeeded his brother Robert Harting to the Olympic title. "It was the first time in Olympic history, in any sport, that brothers succeeded each other as Olympic champions in the same individual event." It was also the nation's third victory in the event (excluding those won by East and West Germany). Poland's Piotr Małachowski took the silver medal ahead of another German, Daniel Jasinski. Małachowski had also won silver eight years before, making him the 16th man to win multiple medals in the discus throw.

Background

This was the 28th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The returning finalists from the 2012 Games were gold medalist Robert Harting of Germany, silver medalist Ehsan Haddadi of Iran, bronze medalist (and 2008 gold medalist) Gerd Kanter of Estonia, fifth-place finisher (and 2008 silver medalist) Piotr Małachowski of Poland, seventh-place finisher (and 2008 finalist) Frank Casañas of Spain, eighth-place finisher Vikas Gowda of India, ninth-place finisher Benn Harradine of Australia, and eleventh-place finisher Jorge Fernandez of Cuba. Though injury had affected Robert Harting's 2015 season, he ranked third in the world before the competition. His brother Christoph Harting was one place higher, while the reigning 2015 World Champion Małachowski topped the world seasonal rankings.

Colombia and Kazakhstan each made their debut in the men's discus throw. The United States made its 27th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Qualification

Main article: Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Qualification

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the men's discus throw event if all athletes meet the entry standard during the qualifying period. (The limit of 3 has been in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress.) The qualifying standard was 65.00 metres. The qualifying period was from 1 May 2015 to 11 July 2016. The qualifying distance standards could be obtained in various meets during the given period that have the approval of the IAAF. Only outdoor meets were accepted. NOCs could also use their universality place—each NOC could enter one male athlete regardless of time if they had no male athletes meeting the entry standard for an athletics event—in the discus throw.

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 65.50 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.

Summary

In qualification, Robert Harting could not reach his seasonal peak and was eliminated. Other prominent athletes who failed to progress were 2012 Olympic runner-up Ehsan Haddadi, 2015 World Championship bronze medalist Robert Urbanek and Fedrick Dacres, who was fourth on the world rankings. Only two athletes achieved the automatic qualifying mark: Małachowski headed the field over Lukas Weißhaidinger of Austria.

In the final, Małachowski seized the lead in the opening round with 67.32 m. He had three successive throws over 67 metres while Germany's Christoph Harting and Jasinski held second and third with throws over 66 metres. Those top three positions stood from round 2 through to the penultimate round. In the last round the competitors came to life: Estonia's Martin Kupper threw 66.58 m to take the silver medal position. Jasinski immediately replied with 67.05 m to move into second place himself. Harting, sitting outside the medals at that point, delivered a lifetime best of 68.37 m (224 ft 3 in) with his final throw to take the gold medal. Małachowski could not respond with his last effort and finished with the silver medal, having led for almost the entire competition and holding three of the four best marks of the 2016 Olympics. Harting's win made it the first time in Olympic athletics history that siblings had won successive gold medals.

Records

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

World record	Jürgen Schult (GDR)	74.08	Neubrandenburg, East Germany	6 June 1986
Olympic record	Virgilijus Alekna (LTU)	69.89	Athens, Greece	23 August 2004

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition. Christoph Harting's 68.37 metres was the best of 2016 to that point.

Schedule

All times are Brasília Time (UTC−3).

Date	Time	Round
Friday, 12 August 2016	09:30	Qualifying
Saturday, 13 August 2016	10:50	Final

Results

Qualifying

Qualification rule: qualification standard 65.50m (Q) or at least best 12 qualified (q).

Rank	Group	Athlete	Nation	1	2	3	Distance	Notes
1	A	Piotr Małachowski	Poland	64.69	65.89	—	65.89	Q
2	A	Lukas Weißhaidinger	Austria	63.43	65.86	—	65.86	Q, SB
3	B	Christoph Harting	Germany	X	64.49	65.41	65.41	q
4	A	Andrius Gudžius	Lithuania	59.50	X	65.18	65.18	q, SB
5	A	Gerd Kanter	Estonia	62.86	64.02	X	64.02	q
6	B	Mason Finley	United States	61.52	62.55	63.68	63.68	q
7	B	Axel Härstedt	Sweden	63.58	X	X	63.58	q
8	B	Apostolos Parellis	Cyprus	61.60	63.35	61.74	63.35	q
9	B	Zoltán Kővágó	Hungary	59.83	63.34	61.57	63.34	q
10	B	Martin Kupper	Estonia	61.15	62.92	X	62.92	q
11	A	Daniel Jasinski	Germany	X	62.83	61.30	62.83	q
12	B	Philip Milanov	Belgium	62.68	62.59	X	62.68	q
13	B	Sven Martin Skagestad	Norway	59.69	62.45	X	62.45
14	A	Daniel Ståhl	Sweden	60.78	x	62.26	62.26
15	B	Robert Harting	Germany	X	X	62.21	62.21
16	A	Andrew Evans	United States	X	61.87	X	61.87
17	B	Robert Urbanek	Poland	X	61.76	61.53	61.76
18	B	Mauricio Ortega	Colombia	X	61.62	X	61.62
19	B	Matthew Denny	Australia	60.78	61.16	X	61.16
20	A	Benn Harradine	Australia	60.82	60.85	55.68	60.85
21	B	Guðni Valur Guðnason	Iceland	53.51	60.45	59.37	60.45
22	A	Jorge Fernández	Cuba	59.93	60.43	60.09	60.43
23	A	Mykyta Nesterenko	Ukraine	57.87	60.28	60.31	60.31
24	B	Ehsan Haddadi	Iran	57.86	59.92	60.15	60.15
25	B	Frank Casañas	Spain	X	57.81	59.96	59.96
26	A	Tavis Bailey	United States	X	59.81	59.25	59.81
27	A	Lois Maikel Martínez	Spain	X	59.42	X	59.42
28	B	Vikas Gowda	India	57.59	58.99	58.70	58.99
29	A	Alex Rose	Samoa	57.24	56.47	54.42	57.24
30	A	Mahmoud Samimi	Iran	56.94	55.43	56.07	56.94
31	A	Yevgeniy Labutov	Kazakhstan	55.54	54.02	54.82	55.54
32	B	Oleksiy Semenov	Ukraine	54.69	54.59	55.35	55.35
33	A	Sultan Mubarak Al-Dawoodi	Saudi Arabia	X	54.09	54.84	54.84
34	A	Fedrick Dacres	Jamaica	X	X	50.69	50.69
—	B	Danijel Furtula	Montenegro	X	X	X	No mark

Final

Rank	Athlete	Nation	1	2	3	4	5	6	Distance	Notes
	Christoph Harting	Germany	62.38	66.34	X	X	64.77	68.37	68.37	PB, WL
	Piotr Małachowski	Poland	67.32	67.06	67.55	X	65.51	65.38	67.55
	Daniel Jasinski	Germany	65.77	65.01	66.08	64.83	63.31	67.05	67.05
4	Martin Kupper	Estonia	64.47	X	62.88	x	X	66.58	66.58
5	Gerd Kanter	Estonia	65.10	63.01	64.45	63.73	X	X	65.10
6	Lukas Weißhaidinger	Austria	62.14	62.44	61.81	X	X	64.95	64.95
7	Zoltán Kővágó	Hungary	64.50	X	62.98	X	X	x	64.50
8	Apostolos Parellis	Cyprus	61.00	60.82	63.72	X	63.49	62.37	63.72
9	Philip Milanov	Belgium	62.22	X	X	Did not advance			62.22
10	Axel Härstedt	Sweden	54.77	62.12	X	Did not advance			62.12
11	Mason Finley	United States	60.43	X	62.05	Did not advance			62.05
12	Andrius Gudžius	Lithuania	60.66	58.89	X	Did not advance			60.66