Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's shot put

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Men's shot put
at the Games of the XIX Olympiad
Randy Matson
VenueEstadio Olímpico Universitario
DatesOctober 13–14
Competitors19 from 14 nations
Winning distance20.54
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Randy Matson  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s)
George Woods
  United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Eduard Gushchin  Soviet Union
← 1964
1972 →
Athletics at the
1968 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
400 mmenwomen
800 mmenwomen
1500 mmen
5000 mmen
10,000 mmen
80 m hurdleswomen
110 m hurdlesmen
400 m hurdlesmen
3000 m
steeplechase		men
4 × 100 m relaymenwomen
4 × 400 m relaymen
Road events
Marathonmen
20 km walkmen
50 km walkmen
Field events
Long jumpmenwomen
Triple jumpmen
High jumpmenwomen
Pole vaultmen
Shot putmenwomen
Discus throwmenwomen
Javelin throwmenwomen
Hammer throwmen
Combined events
Pentathlonwomen
Decathlonmen

The men's shot put competition at the

George Woods took silver, making 1968 the sixth straight Games the Americans had finished one-two. Matson was the seventh man to win two medals in the event (adding to his 1964 silver); Woods would become the eighth in 1972. Eduard Gushchin
took bronze, the Soviet Union's first men's shot put medal.

Background

This was the 16th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Returning finalists from the 1964 Games were silver medalist

Vilmos Varju of Hungary, seventh-place finisher Les Mills of New Zealand, ninth-place finisher Władysław Komar of Poland, and twelfth-place finisher Dieter Hoffmann of the United Team of Germany (now competing for East Germany). Matson had been the best shot putter in the world since the 1964 Games, breaking the world record twice.[2]

El Salvador and Nicaragua each made their debut in the men's shot put; East Germany and West Germany competed separately for the first time. The United States appeared for the 16th time, the only nation to have competed in all Olympic shot put competitions to date.

Competition format

The competition consisted of two rounds, qualification and final. Each athlete received three throws in the qualifying round. All who achieved the qualifying distance of 18.90 metres progressed to the final. If fewer than twelve athletes achieved this mark, then the twelve furthest throwing athletes reached the final. Each finalist was allowed three throws in last round, with the top eight athletes after that point being given three further attempts.

Records

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

World record  Randy Matson (USA) 21.78 College Station, United States 23 April 1967
Olympic record  Dallas Long (USA) 20.33 Tokyo, Japan 17 October 1964

Randy Matson broke the Olympic record with a throw of 20.68 metres in the qualifying round. Nobody, including Matson, was able to surpass that mark in the final.

Schedule

All times are

UTC-6
)

Date Time Round
Sunday, 13 October 1968 10:00 Qualifying
Monday, 14 October 1968 15:30 Final

Results

Qualifying round

Qual. rule: qualification standard 18.90m (Q) or at least best 12 qualified (q).

Rank Group Athlete Nation 1 2 3 Distance Notes
1 A Randy Matson  United States 20.68 — — 20.68 Q, OR
2 A Eduard Gushchin  Soviet Union 19.88 — — 19.88 Q
3 A
George Woods
  United States 19.79 — — 19.79 Q
4 A Dieter Hoffmann  East Germany 18.30 19.75 — 19.75 Q
5 B Pierre Colnard  France 19.57 — — 19.57 Q
6 A Heinfried Birlenbach  West Germany 19.43 — — 19.43 Q
7 A Dave Maggard  United States 18.73 19.26 — 19.26 Q
8 A Uwe Grabe  East Germany 18.08 18.59 19.15 19.15 Q
9 A Władysław Komar  Poland 19.09 — — 19.09 Q
10 A Traugott Glöckler  West Germany 18.89 19.08 — 19.08 Q
11 B Les Mills  New Zealand 18.56 19.00 — 19.00 Q
12 B Jeff Teale  Great Britain 18.76 X 18.87 18.87 q
13 A Vilmos Varjú  Hungary 18.69 X 18.86 18.86
14 B Arnjolt Beer  France 18.72 X X 18.72
15 B
Edy Hubacher
  Switzerland 18.54 18.38 X 18.54
16 B Guðmundur Hermannsson  Iceland 16.24 16.77 17.35 17.35
17 B Georgios Lemonis  Greece 16.43 X X 16.43
18 B
Rolando Mendoza
  Nicaragua 11.39 13.33 13.32 13.33
19 B Mauricio Jubis  El Salvador 12.04 12.46 12.92 12.92
— B Lahcen Samsam Akka  Morocco DNS
B Ricky Bruch  Sweden DNS
B Jalal Keshmiri  Iran DNS
A Dieter Prollius  East Germany DNS
A George Puce  Canada DNS

Final

Rank Athlete Nation 1 2 3 4 5 6 Distance
1st place, gold medalist(s) Randy Matson  United States 20.54 20.09 18.67 20.15 20.02 20.18 20.54
2nd place, silver medalist(s)
George Woods
  United States 20.12 X X – 19.19 X 20.12
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Eduard Gushchin  Soviet Union 20.09 19.45 19.69 X X 19.41 20.09
4 Dieter Hoffmann  East Germany 20.00 19.33 19.75 19.68 19.85 19.86 20.00
5 Dave Maggard  United States 19.43 19.33 19.75 19.68 19.85 19.86 19.43
6 Władysław Komar  Poland 18.66 19.28 18.54 X X 19.21 19.28
7 Uwe Grabe  East Germany 18.20 18.74 19.03 17.43 17.66 18.34 19.03
8 Heinfried Birlenbach  West Germany 18.80 18.48 X 18.13 18.67 X 18.80
9 Pierre Colnard  France 18.62 X 18.79 Did not advance 18.79
10 Jeff Teale  Great Britain 18.65 18.57 18.60 Did not advance 18.65
11 Les Mills  New Zealand 18.18 18.01 17.95 Did not advance 18.18
12 Traugott Glöckler  West Germany X 17.20 18.14 Did not advance 18.14

References

  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1968 Mexico City Summer Games: Men's Shot Put". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Shot Put, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 18 October 2020.

External links

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