Venue Olympic Stadium Competitors 40 from 34 nations | Date 3 August Winning distance 21.89 | |
 | ||
The men's shot put competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom was held at the Olympic Stadium on 3 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.
Contents
In the qualification rounds, the first athletics event of the Olympics, the athletes with the best credentials coming in; (2007 World Champion) Reese Hoffa, (2011 World Champion) David Storl and (defending champion) Tomasz Majewski placed themselves in the favorite role, by tossing an automatic qualifier on their first attempt. Ryan Whiting and German Lauro had to take all three attempts to make their automatic qualifier, Lauro's becoming the new National Record for Argentina. It took 20.25 to make it to the finals, held in the evening.
The results of the first preliminary round foretold the final results. Those three athletes led from the first round, with Storl literally flexing his muscles in the ring as he took the early lead, then improving his position slightly in the second round. Lauro added 7 cm to the national record he had set in the morning in the second round and another 2 cm in the third, but in the end that was only good enough for sixth place. Majewski edged into the lead with his third attempt, while Hoffa made his best attempt in the fourth round. (2009 World Champion) Christian Cantwell came within 4 cm of grabbing the bronze medal from his American teammate in the final round, then Majewski put a cap on his victory with the best throw in the competition 21.89 on the final throw. Majewski is the first to repeat as champion since Parry O'Brien in 1956, with Ralph Rose from 1908 the only other, and the first non-American to do that.
Schedule
All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)
Records
Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
The following National record were set during this competition.
Qualifying round
Qual. rule: qualification standard 20.65m (Q) or at least best 12 qualified (q).