| | Event type

Discus Throw, Men

Date	16 – 19 August 2008
Status	Olympic
Location	Beijing Guojia Tiyuchang, Beijing Aolinpike Gongyuan, Beijing
Participants	37 from 29 countries

The two favorites going into Beijing were Estonia’s Gert Kanter, world-ranked #1 in 2007 after winning the World Championships, and Virgilijus Alekna of Lithuania, Olympic gold medalist in 2000 and 2004, and World Champion in 2003 and 2005. But the longest throw in both the first two rounds of the final went to Poland’s Piotr Małachowski, who led with 67.82 (222-6). After two rounds he led, with Kanter second and Alekna third. None of the leaders improved in round three, but in round four, both Kanter and Alekna produced their best throw. Kanter’s 68.82 (225-9) would win him the gold medal, but Alekna’s 67.79 (222-5) could not get him past Małachowski, who won the silver medal, Alekna taking bronze. Finishing seventh was Rutger Smith (NED), who had also placed ninth in the shot put. This made him only the third weight thrower to make the finals of the shot put and discus throw since 1960 – Warwick Selvey (AUS) did it in 1960 and Erik de Bruin (NED) did it in 1984.

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Qualifying	Final
1	Gerd Kanter	EST	64.66 (5)	68.82 (1)	Gold
2	Piotr Małachowski	POL	65.94 (1)	67.82 (2)	Silver
3	Virgilijus Alekna	LTU	65.84 (2)	67.79 (3)	Bronze
4	Robert Harting	GER	64.19 (8)	67.09 (4)
5	Frank Casañas	ESP	64.99 (4)	66.49 (5)
6	Bogdan Pishchalnikov	RUS	64.60 (6)	65.88 (6)
7	Rutger Smith	NED	65.65 (3)	65.39 (7)
8	Róbert Fazekas	HUN	62.64 (11)	63.43 (8)
9	Mario Pestano	ESP	64.42 (7)	63.42 (9)
10	Rashid Al-Dosari	QAT	63.83 (9)	62.55 (10)
11	Frantz Kruger	FIN	62.48 (12)	61.98 (11)
12	Aleksander Tammert	EST	63.10 (10)	61.38 (12)
13 r1/2	Gábor Máté	HUN	62.44 (13)	–
14 r1/2	Märt Israel	EST	61.98 (14)	–
15 r1/2	Dzmitry Sivakou	BLR	61.75 (15)	–
16 r1/2	Michael Robertson	USA	61.64 (16)	–
17 r1/2	Ehsan Haddadi	IRI	61.34 (17)	–
18 r1/2	Gerhard Mayer	AUT	61.32 (18)	–
19 r1/2	Casey Malone	USA	61.26 (19)	–
20 r1/2	Ercüment Olgundeniz	TUR	60.83 (20)	–
21 r1/2	Zoltán Kővágó	HUN	60.79 (21)	–
22 r1/2	Vikas Gowda	IND	60.69 (22)	–
23 r1/2	Omar El-Ghazaly	EGY	60.24 (23)	–
24 r1/2	Oleksiy Semenov	UKR	60.18 (24)	–
25 r1/2	Ian Waltz	USA	60.02 (25)	–
26 r1/2	Abbas Samimi	IRI	59.92 (26)	–
27 r1/2	Jorge Fernández	CUB	59.60 (27)	–
28 r1/2	Jan Marcell	CZE	59.52 (28)	–
29 r1/2	Martin Marić	CRO	59.25 (29)	–
30 r1/2	Jorge Balliengo	ARG	58.82 (30)	–
31 r1/2	Benn Harradine	AUS	58.55 (31)	–
32 r1/2	Niklas Arrhenius	SWE	58.22 (32)	–
33 r1/2	Hannes Kirchler	ITA	56.44 (33)	–
34 r1/2	Sultan Mubarak Al-Dawoodi	KSA	56.29 (34)	–
35 r1/2	Vadim Hranovschi	MDA	56.19 (35)	–
36 r1/2	Haidar Nasser	IRQ	54.19 (36)	–
37 r1/2	Eric Matthias	IVB	53.11 (37)	–

Qualifying Round

Date	16 August 2008
Format	Top 12 and ties and all those reaching 64.50 metres advanced to the final.

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Distance
1	Piotr Małachowski	POL	65.94	Q
2	Virgilijus Alekna	LTU	65.84	Q
3	Rutger Smith	NED	65.65	Q
4	Frank Casañas	ESP	64.99	Q
5	Gerd Kanter	EST	64.66	Q
6	Bogdan Pishchalnikov	RUS	64.60	Q
7	Mario Pestano	ESP	64.42	q
8	Robert Harting	GER	64.19	q
9	Rashid Al-Dosari	QAT	63.83	q
10	Aleksander Tammert	EST	63.10	q
11	Róbert Fazekas	HUN	62.64	q
12	Frantz Kruger	FIN	62.48	q
13	Gábor Máté	HUN	62.44
14	Märt Israel	EST	61.98
15	Dzmitry Sivakou	BLR	61.75
16	Michael Robertson	USA	61.64
17	Ehsan Haddadi	IRI	61.34
18	Gerhard Mayer	AUT	61.32
19	Casey Malone	USA	61.26
20	Ercüment Olgundeniz	TUR	60.83
21	Zoltán Kővágó	HUN	60.79
22	Vikas Gowda	IND	60.69
23	Omar El-Ghazaly	EGY	60.24
24	Oleksiy Semenov	UKR	60.18
25	Ian Waltz	USA	60.02
26	Abbas Samimi	IRI	59.92
27	Jorge Fernández	CUB	59.60
28	Jan Marcell	CZE	59.52
29	Martin Marić	CRO	59.25
30	Jorge Balliengo	ARG	58.82
31	Benn Harradine	AUS	58.55
32	Niklas Arrhenius	SWE	58.22
33	Hannes Kirchler	ITA	56.44
34	Sultan Mubarak Al-Dawoodi	KSA	56.29
35	Vadim Hranovschi	MDA	56.19
36	Haidar Nasser	IRQ	54.19
37	Eric Matthias	IVB	53.11

Group A

Date	16 August 2008 — 10:40

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Distance	Round #1 Distance	Round #2 Distance	Round #3 Distance
1	Piotr Małachowski	POL	65.94	65.94	-	-
2	Virgilijus Alekna	LTU	65.84	65.84	-	-
3	Bogdan Pishchalnikov	RUS	64.60	62.68	63.93	64.60
4	Mario Pestano	ESP	64.42	64.42	61.16	x
5	Robert Harting	GER	64.19	64.19	x	x
6	Aleksander Tammert	EST	63.10	57.79	61.57	63.10
7	Róbert Fazekas	HUN	62.64	x	61.61	62.64
8	Gábor Máté	HUN	62.44	x	55.15	62.44
9	Dzmitry Sivakou	BLR	61.75	59.64	x	61.75
10	Michael Robertson	USA	61.64	60.97	61.64	x
11	Casey Malone	USA	61.26	59.48	x	61.26
12	Omar El-Ghazaly	EGY	60.24	59.71	58.95	60.24
13	Oleksiy Semenov	UKR	60.18	57.84	60.18	59.41
14	Abbas Samimi	IRI	59.92	58.01	59.92	58.85
15	Jorge Fernández	CUB	59.60	x	59.60	59.58
16	Jan Marcell	CZE	59.52	59.52	x	56.31
17	Benn Harradine	AUS	58.55	58.55	57.50	57.91
18	Sultan Mubarak Al-Dawoodi	KSA	56.29	56.29	55.54	56.24
19	Vadim Hranovschi	MDA	56.19	56.19	x	55.78

Group B

Date	16 August 2008 — 12:05

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Distance	Round #1 Distance	Round #2 Distance	Round #3 Distance
1	Rutger Smith	NED	65.65	64.09	65.65	-
2	Frank Casañas	ESP	64.99	x	x	64.99
3	Gerd Kanter	EST	64.66	59.65	64.66	-
4	Rashid Al-Dosari	QAT	63.83	63.83	63.72	61.60
5	Frantz Kruger	FIN	62.48	x	58.60	62.48
6	Märt Israel	EST	61.98	61.98	59.78	61.63
7	Ehsan Haddadi	IRI	61.34	61.08	x	61.34
8	Gerhard Mayer	AUT	61.32	61.32	x	58.13
9	Ercüment Olgundeniz	TUR	60.83	58.99	60.83	x
10	Zoltán Kővágó	HUN	60.79	60.79	59.46	60.44
11	Vikas Gowda	IND	60.69	59.58	x	60.69
12	Ian Waltz	USA	60.02	60.02	x	x
13	Martin Marić	CRO	59.25	59.25	x	59.09
14	Jorge Balliengo	ARG	58.82	58.71	58.82	x
15	Niklas Arrhenius	SWE	58.22	56.64	58.22	56.77
16	Hannes Kirchler	ITA	56.44	x	x	56.44
17	Haidar Nasser	IRQ	54.19	54.19	x	x
18	Eric Matthias	IVB	53.11	47.87	50.87	53.11

Final Round

Date	19 August 2008 — 21:00

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Distance	Round #1 Distance	Round #2 Distance	Round #3 Distance	Round #4 Distance	Round #5 Distance	Round #6 Distance
1	Gerd Kanter	EST	68.82	63.44	66.38	62.75	68.82	x	65.98
2	Piotr Małachowski	POL	67.82	66.45	67.82	66.98	63.91	65.78	x
3	Virgilijus Alekna	LTU	67.79	x	65.77	64.42	67.79	x	67.18
4	Robert Harting	GER	67.09	65.58	64.84	67.09	x	x	66.51
5	Frank Casañas	ESP	66.49	59.54	62.16	64.46	64.11	64.97	66.49
6	Bogdan Pishchalnikov	RUS	65.88	64.09	64.25	61.13	65.88	x	x
7	Rutger Smith	NED	65.39	64.61	65.31	64.36	64.25	x	65.39
8	Róbert Fazekas	HUN	63.43	62.25	63.43	62.49	x	x	59.34
9	Mario Pestano	ESP	63.42	60.46	62.84	63.42	–	–	–
10	Rashid Al-Dosari	QAT	62.55	59.62	x	62.55	–	–	–
11	Frantz Kruger	FIN	61.98	61.98	61.80	60.71	–	–	–
12	Aleksander Tammert	EST	61.38	x	61.32	61.38	–	–	–