Shot Put, Men

The American threesome of Adam Nelson, Christian Cantwell, and Reese Hoffa was considered dominant and an American sweep seemed to be a real possibility. In the end they were left gasping just to get any medal. All three qualified easily but the problems were highlighted by Nelson, gold medalist in 2004, who fouled three times and did not advance, with no fair mark in the final. The leader in round one was Pole Tomasz Majewski with 20.80 (68-3), but Belarussian Andrey Mikhnevich moved ahead in round two with 21.05 (69-0¾). Canada’s Dylan Armstrong moved into second with 21.04 (69-0½) and Cantwell moved into third with 20.98 (68-10). Majewski came back in the third stanza, taking the lead with 21.21 (69-7) which would eventually be good enough for the gold medal. Cantwell, Armstrong, and Mikhnevich could not improve in rounds four or five, but Majewski did, tossing 21.51 (70-7), the only 70-footer and the best mark of the competition. Going into the final round, no American was in a podium position, with Cantwell in fourth, and Hoffa standing seventh with 20.53 (67-4¼). Cantwell then came thru for the silver medal with a final round effort of 21.09 (69-2½), preventing the vaunted American threesome from being shut out. Majewski’s previous best finish at a major competition had been fifth at the 2007 World Championships.

That was how the event and the results seemed to have ended. In 2015, however, the IOC began re-testing samples from the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics, using newer, more advanced testing techniques, in an effort to find those who had used performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), but in whom it could not be detected at the time of those Olympics. This was one of the many events affected.

This original result would stand for five years but in 2013 it was announced that a retest of a urine sample given by Mikhnevich at the 2005 IAAF World Athletics Championships had, with the use of updated testing techniques, revealed the presence of no less than three banned substances. Since the Belarussian had previously served a doping ban between 2001 and 2003, this second offense was punishable by a lifetime suspension and all of his performances since the 2005 World Championships were automatically voided by the IAAF. In 2014 the Canadian Olympic Committee announced that the IOC had confirmed that Armstrong was promoted to the bronze medal position in place of Mikhnevich. Armstrong received his bronze medal on 15 February 2015, in his hometown of Kamloops, British Columbia, almost 7 years after the event had ended.