Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Men's shot put

This was the 10th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Returning shot putters from the 1932 Games were bronze medalist František Douda of Czechoslovakia, sixth-place finisher Hans-Heinrich Sievert of Germany, eighth-place finisher József Darányi of Hungary, tenth-place finisher Jules Noël of France, and fifteenth-place finisher Antônio Lira of Brazil. Douda had held the world record from late 1932 to early 1934, but Jack Torrance of the United States had set a record in 1934 that would last until 1948. Torrance was favored in Berlin, slightly ahead of Hans Woellke of host Germany.[1]

Afghanistan, the Republic of China, and Japan each made their debut in the men's shot put. The United States appeared for the 10th time, the only nation to have competed in all Olympic shot put competitions to date.

The competition introduced a true two-round format, with the qualifying round completely separate from the divided final (though the official report describes the competition as having three phases, with the final being a "semi-finals" and "final"). In qualifying, each athlete received three attempts; those recording a mark of at least 14.50 metres advanced to the final. The results of the qualifying round were then ignored. Finalists received three throws each, with the top six competitors receiving an additional three attempts. The best distance among those six throws counted.[1][3]

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in metres) prior to the 1936 Summer Olympics.

World record	Jack Torrance (USA)	17.40	Oslo, Norway	5 August 1934
Olympic record	Leo Sexton (USA)	15.87	Los Angeles, United States	31 July 1932

Sulo Bärlund broke the Olympic record with a throw of 16.03 metres in the second throw of the final. This record lasted until the fifth throw, when Bärlund throw 16.12 and Hans Woellke threw 16.20 metres.