Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's discus throw

Men's discus throw at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Venue	Olympic Stadium
Date	6–7 August
Competitors	41 from 24 nations
Winning distance	68.27
Medalists
Robert Harting   Germany   Ehsan Haddadi   Iran   Gerd Kanter   Estonia

Official Video Highlights

Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men		women
200 m		men		women
400 m		men		women
800 m		men		women
1500 m		men		women
5000 m		men		women
10,000 m		men		women
100 m hurdles				women
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men		women
3000 m steeplechase		men		women
4×100 m relay		men		women
4×400 m relay		men		women
Road events
Marathon		men		women
20 km walk		men		women
50 km walk		men
Field events
Long jump		men		women
Triple jump		men		women
High jump		men		women
Pole vault		men		women
Shot put		men		women
Discus throw		men		women
Javelin throw		men		women
Hammer throw		men		women
Combined events
Heptathlon				women
Decathlon		men

The men's discus throw competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. The event was held at the Olympic Stadium on 6–7 August.^[1] Each athlete receives three throws in the qualifying round. All who achieve the qualifying distance progress to the final. If less than twelve athletes achieve this mark, then the twelve furthest throwing athletes reach the final. Each finalist is allowed three throws in last round, with the top eight athletes after that point being given three further attempts.^[2]

Six made the automatic qualifier to the finals, Ehsan Haddadi, Jorge Fernandez and Robert Harting on their first attempt. The top qualifier was defending champion Gerd Kanter, but it took him three throws to get a distance that would qualify. The #10 qualifier was two time champion Virgilijus Alekna.

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.^[3] 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.^[4]

Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

Records

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

World record	Jürgen Schult (GDR)	74.08 m	Neubrandenburg, East Germany	6 June 1986
Olympic record	Virgilijus Alekna (LTU)	69.89 m	Athens, Greece	23 August 2004
2012 World leading	Robert Harting (GER)	70.66 m	Turnov, Czech Republic	22 May 2012

Results

Qualification

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

Rank	Group	Name	Nationality	#1	#2	#3	Result	Notes
1	B	Kanter, GerdGerd Kanter	Estonia	X	59.72	66.39	66.39	Q
2	B	Harting, RobertRobert Harting	Germany	66.22	-	-	66.22	Q
3	B	Fernandez, JorgeJorge Fernandez	Cuba	65.34	-	-	65.34	Q
4	B	Okoye, LawrenceLawrence Okoye	Great Britain	X	63.00	65.28	65.28	Q
5	A	Gowda, VikasVikas Gowda	India	63.52	65.20	-	65.20	Q
6	A	Haddadi, EhsanEhsan Haddadi	Iran	65.19	-	-	65.19	Q
7	A	Małachowski, PiotrPiotr Małachowski	Poland	62.08	64.65	63.96	64.65	q
8	B	Wierig, MartinMartin Wierig	Germany	64.13	62.66	X	64.13	q
9	B	Harradine, BennBenn Harradine	Australia	64.00	X	61.39	64.00	q
10	A	Alekna, VirgilijusVirgilijus Alekna	Lithuania	62.32	63.88	X	63.88	q
11	A	Casañas, FrankFrank Casañas	Spain	X	63.76	60.21	63.76	q
12	A	Cadée, ErikErik Cadée	Netherlands	63.55	X	X	63.55	q
13	A	Parellis, ApostolosApostolos Parellis	Cyprus	63.48	62.49	62.54	63.48
14	B	Pestano, MarioMario Pestano	Spain	63.40	63.36	X	63.40
15	B	Pishchalnikov, BogdanBogdan Pishchalnikov	Russia	61.69	X	63.15	63.15
16	B	Smith, RutgerRutger Smith	Netherlands	63.00	62.70	63.09	63.09
17	B	Marić, MartinMartin Marić	Croatia	61.04	62.83	62.87	62.87
18	A	Young, JasonJason Young	United States	62.18	X	X	62.18
19	A	Martin, ScottScott Martin	Australia	58.15	57.67	62.14	62.14
20	B	Smikle, TravesTraves Smikle	Jamaica	X	59.59	61.85	61.85
21	B	Brooks, LanceLance Brooks	United States	61.17	60.59	59.25	61.17
22	B	Czajkowski, PrzemyslawPrzemyslaw Czajkowski	Poland	58.73	X	61.08	61.08
23	A	Olgundeniz, ErcümentErcüment Olgundeniz	Turkey	X	X	60.87	60.87
24	B	Mayer, GerhardGerhard Mayer	Austria	59.40	60.81	60.27	60.81
25	A	Israel, MärtMärt Israel	Estonia	59.60	X	60.34	60.34
26	B	El Ghazaly, Omar AhmedOmar Ahmed El Ghazaly	Egypt	60.16	60.26	58.89	60.26
27	A	Tammert, AleksanderAleksander Tammert	Estonia	57.00	60.20	59.78	60.20
28	A	Wruck, JulianJulian Wruck	Australia	58.01	60.08	59.64	60.08
29	B	Buhari, AbdulAbdul Buhari	Great Britain	54.20	55.78	60.08	60.08
30	A	Münch, MarkusMarkus Münch	Germany	59.95	59.34	X	59.95
31	B	Rome, JarredJarred Rome	United States	X	X	59.57	59.57
32	A	Urbanek, RobertRobert Urbanek	Poland	59.56	X	X	59.56
33	B	Al-Dawoodi, Sultan MubarakSultan Mubarak Al-Dawoodi	Saudi Arabia	55.48	55.80	59.54	59.54
34	B	Nesterenko, MykytaMykyta Nesterenko	Ukraine	X	58.22	59.17	59.17
35	A	Morse, BrettBrett Morse	Great Britain	X	58.18	X	58.18
36	A	Varga, RolandRoland Varga	Croatia	57.76	58.17	57.79	58.17
37	A	Lauro, GermánGermán Lauro	Argentina	X	55.23	57.54	57.54
38	B	Furtula, DanijelDanijel Furtula	Montenegro	57.48	X	X	57.48
39	A	Morgan, JasonJason Morgan	Jamaica	56.25	56.72	57.46	57.46
40	A	Lastre, YunioYunio Lastre	Cuba	X	X	57.33	57.33
41	B	Julião, RonaldRonald Julião	Brazil	X	56.20	X	56.20

Final

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	1	2	3	4	5	6	Result	Notes
01 !	Robert Harting	Germany	67.79	X	67.27	66.45	68.27	67.08	68.27
02 !	Ehsan Haddadi	Iran	68.18	64.09	67.28	66.98	X	X	68.18
03 !	Gerd Kanter	Estonia	65.07	65.79	66.02	65.96	68.03	66.99	68.03	SB
4	Virgilijus Alekna	Lithuania	67.38	X	X	66.07	X	X	67.38
5	Piotr Małachowski	Poland	62.50	66.92	X	67.19	X	X	67.19
6	Martin Wierig	Germany	63.34	63.98	X	65.85	64.79	65.12	65.85
7	Frank Casañas	Spain	65.56	X	X	64.92	65.48	63.16	65.56
8	Vikas Gowda	India	64.79	60.95	63.03	64.15	64.48	63.89	64.79
9	Benn Harradine	Australia	58.24	63.16	63.59				63.59
10	Erik Cadée	Netherlands	62.40	62.77	62.78				62.78
11	Jorge Fernandez	Cuba	X	60.04	62.02				62.02
12	Lawrence Okoye	Great Britain	61.03	X	60.11				61.03

References