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

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. 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.

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. 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.

Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

Date	Time	Round
Monday, 6 August 2012	10:00	Qualifications
Tuesday, 7 August 2012	19:45	Finals

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	Gerd Kanter	Estonia	X	59.72	66.39	66.39	Q
2	B	Robert Harting	Germany	66.22	-	-	66.22	Q
3	B	Jorge Fernandez	Cuba	65.34	-	-	65.34	Q
4	B	Lawrence Okoye	Great Britain	X	63.00	65.28	65.28	Q
5	A	Vikas Gowda	India	63.52	65.20	-	65.20	Q
6	A	Ehsan Haddadi	Iran	65.19	-	-	65.19	Q
7	A	Piotr Małachowski	Poland	62.08	64.65	63.96	64.65	q
8	B	Martin Wierig	Germany	64.13	62.66	X	64.13	q
9	B	Benn Harradine	Australia	64.00	X	61.39	64.00	q
10	A	Virgilijus Alekna	Lithuania	62.32	63.88	X	63.88	q
11	A	Frank Casañas	Spain	X	63.76	60.21	63.76	q
12	A	Erik Cadée	Netherlands	63.55	X	X	63.55	q
13	A	Apostolos Parellis	Cyprus	63.48	62.49	62.54	63.48
14	B	Mario Pestano	Spain	63.40	63.36	X	63.40
15	B	Bogdan Pishchalnikov	Russia	61.69	X	63.15	63.15
16	B	Rutger Smith	Netherlands	63.00	62.70	63.09	63.09
17	B	Martin Marić	Croatia	61.04	62.83	62.87	62.87
18	A	Jason Young	United States	62.18	X	X	62.18
19	A	Scott Martin	Australia	58.15	57.67	62.14	62.14
20	B	Traves Smikle	Jamaica	X	59.59	61.85	61.85
21	B	Lance Brooks	United States	61.17	60.59	59.25	61.17
22	B	Przemyslaw Czajkowski	Poland	58.73	X	61.08	61.08
23	A	Ercüment Olgundeniz	Turkey	X	X	60.87	60.87
24	B	Gerhard Mayer	Austria	59.40	60.81	60.27	60.81
25	A	Märt Israel	Estonia	59.60	X	60.34	60.34
26	B	Omar Ahmed El Ghazaly	Egypt	60.16	60.26	58.89	60.26
27	A	Aleksander Tammert	Estonia	57.00	60.20	59.78	60.20
28	A	Julian Wruck	Australia	58.01	60.08	59.64	60.08
29	B	Abdul Buhari	Great Britain	54.20	55.78	60.08	60.08
30	A	Markus Münch	Germany	59.95	59.34	X	59.95
31	B	Jarred Rome	United States	X	X	59.57	59.57
32	A	Robert Urbanek	Poland	59.56	X	X	59.56
33	B	Sultan Mubarak Al-Dawoodi	Saudi Arabia	55.48	55.80	59.54	59.54
34	B	Mykyta Nesterenko	Ukraine	X	58.22	59.17	59.17
35	A	Brett Morse	Great Britain	X	58.18	X	58.18
36	A	Roland Varga	Croatia	57.76	58.17	57.79	58.17
37	A	Germán Lauro	Argentina	X	55.23	57.54	57.54
38	B	Danijel Furtula	Montenegro	57.48	X	X	57.48
39	A	Jason Morgan	Jamaica	56.25	56.72	57.46	57.46
40	A	Yunio Lastre	Cuba	X	X	57.33	57.33
41	B	Ronald Julião	Brazil	X	56.20	X	56.20

Final

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	1	2	3	4	5	6	Result	Notes
	Robert Harting	Germany	67.79	X	67.27	66.45	68.27	67.08	68.27
	Ehsan Haddadi	Iran	68.18	64.09	67.28	66.98	X	X	68.18
	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