| | 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	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Qualifying	Final
1	1639	Gerd Kanter	EST	64.66 (5)	68.82 (1)	Gold
2	2600	Piotr Małachowski	POL	65.94 (1)	67.82 (2)	Silver
3	2369	Virgilijus Alekna	LTU	65.84 (2)	67.79 (3)	Bronze
4	1893	Robert Harting	GER	64.19 (8)	67.09 (4)
5	1630	Frank Casañas	ESP	64.99 (4)	66.49 (5)
6	2791	Bogdan Pishchalnikov	RUS	64.60 (6)	65.88 (6)
7	2500	Rutger Smith	NED	65.65 (3)	65.39 (7)
8	1994	Róbert Fazekas	HUN	62.64 (11)	63.43 (8)
9	1606	Mario Pestano	ESP	64.42 (7)	63.42 (9)
10	2698	Rashid Al-Dosari	QAT	63.83 (9)	62.55 (10)
11	1691	Frantz Kruger	FIN	62.48 (12)	61.98 (11)
12	1647	Aleksander Tammert	EST	63.10 (10)	61.38 (12)
13 r1/2	1998	Gábor Máté	HUN	62.44 (13)	–
14 r1/2	1637	Märt Israel	EST	61.98 (14)	–
15 r1/2	1190	Dzmitry Sivakou	BLR	61.75 (15)	–
16 r1/2	3225	Michael Robertson	USA	61.64 (16)	–
17 r1/2	2033	Ehsan Haddadi	IRI	61.34 (17)	–
18 r1/2	1083	Gerhard Mayer	AUT	61.32 (18)	–
19 r1/2	3197	Casey Malone	USA	61.26 (19)	–
20 r1/2	3037	Ercüment Olgundeniz	TUR	60.83 (20)	–
21 r1/2	1996	Zoltán Kővágó	HUN	60.79 (21)	–
22 r1/2	2021	Vikas Gowda	IND	60.69 (22)	–
23 r1/2	1562	Omar El-Ghazaly	EGY	60.24 (23)	–
24 r1/2	3090	Oleksiy Semenov	UKR	60.18 (24)	–
25 r1/2	3251	Ian Waltz	USA	60.02 (25)	–
26 r1/2	2036	Abbas Samimi	IRI	59.92 (26)	–
27 r1/2	1501	Jorge Fernández	CUB	59.60 (27)	–
28 r1/2	1521	Jan Marcell	CZE	59.52 (28)	–
29 r1/2	1444	Martin Marić	CRO	59.25 (29)	–
30 r1/2	1027	Jorge Balliengo	ARG	58.82 (30)	–
31 r1/2	1077	Benn Harradine	AUS	58.55 (31)	–
32 r1/2	2961	Niklas Arrhenius	SWE	58.22 (32)	–
33 r1/2	2096	Hannes Kirchler	ITA	56.44 (33)	–
34 r1/2	2317	Sultan Mubarak Al-Dawoodi	KSA	56.29 (34)	–
35 r1/2	2420	Vadim Hranovschi	MDA	56.19 (35)	–
36 r1/2	2056	Haidar Nasser	IRQ	54.19 (36)	–
37 r1/2	2129	Eric Matthias	IVB	53.11 (37)	–

Qualifying Round (16 August 2008)

Top 12 and ties and all those reaching 64.50 metres advanced to the final.

Pos	Athlete	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

Qualifying Round, Group A (16 August 2008 — 10:40)

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

Qualifying Round, Group B (16 August 2008 — 12:05)

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

Final Round (19 August 2008 — 21:00)

Pos	Ord	Athlete	NOC	Distance	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6
1	11/6/8	Gerd Kanter	EST	68.82	63.44	66.38	62.75	68.82	×	65.98
2	7/8/7	Piotr Małachowski	POL	67.82	66.45	67.82	66.98	63.91	65.78	×
3	4/5/6	Virgilijus Alekna	LTU	67.79	×	65.77	64.42	67.79	×	67.18
4	10/7/5	Robert Harting	GER	67.09	65.58	64.84	67.09	×	×	66.51
5	9/3/2	Frank Casañas	ESP	66.49	59.54	62.16	64.46	64.11	64.97	66.49
6	2/2/4	Bogdan Pishchalnikov	RUS	65.88	64.09	64.25	61.13	65.88	×	×
7	12/4/3	Rutger Smith	NED	65.39	64.61	65.31	64.36	64.25	×	65.39
8	6/1/1	Róbert Fazekas	HUN	63.43	62.25	63.43	62.49	×	×	59.34
9	8	Mario Pestano	ESP	63.42	60.46	62.84	63.42	–	–	–
10	3	Rashid Al-Dosari	QAT	62.55	59.62	×	62.55	–	–	–
11	1	Frantz Kruger	FIN	61.98	61.98	61.80	60.71	–	–	–
12	5	Aleksander Tammert	EST	61.38	×	61.32	61.38	–	–	–