The Men's Shot Put event at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, had an entrylist of 23 competitors, with two qualifying groups (23 putters) before the final (12) took place on Saturday July 24, 1976. The top twelve and ties, and all those reaching 19.40 metres advanced to the final. The qualification round was held on Friday 23, 1976.
The first round leader was Aleksandr Baryshnikov with a 20.53. Al Feuerbach increased that by 2 cm with a 20.55 in the second round, with Udo Beyer moving into bronze medal position with a 20.50. Baryshnikov upped the ante to 21.00 in the third round and that is the way the leader board stayed until the fifth round. Beyer moved into gold medal position with a 21.05. A few throws later Yevgeny Mironov threw 21.03 and leaped from 6th place to the silver medal.