Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's shot put

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.[3] 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.

This was the 27th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The top five finishers from 2008 returned: Tomasz Majewski of Poland, Christian Cantwell of the United States, Andrei Mikhnevich of Belarus (whose bronze medal would later be stripped and reassigned to Armstrong), Dylan Armstrong of Canada, and Pavel Lyzhyn of Belarus (also later disqualified), along with original seventh-place finisher Reese Hoffa of the United States and original ninth-place finisher Rutger Smith of the Netherlands. Since then, Cantwell had won the 2009 world championships and David Storl of Germany had won the 2011 worlds. Majewski and Armstrong had taken silver at those events. Those four men, along with the other Americans (Hoffa and Ryan Whiting, the 2012 indoor world champion) were the favored contenders.[2]

Albania made its debut in the men's shot put. The United States made its 26th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the men's shot put event if all athletes met the A standard, or 1 athlete if they met the B standard. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The qualifying distance standards could be obtained in various meets during the qualifying period that had the approval of the IAAF. Both outdoor and indoor meets were eligible. The A standard for the 2012 men's shot put was 20.50 metres; the B standard was 20.00 metres. The qualifying period for was from 1 May 2011 to 8 July 2012. NOCs could also have an athlete enter the shot put through a universality place. NOCs could enter one male athlete in an athletics event, regardless of time, if they had no male athletes meeting the qualifying A or B standards in any men's athletic event.[4][5][6]

Each athlete received three throws in the qualifying round. All who achieved the qualifying distance of 20.65 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.[7]

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

World record	Randy Barnes (USA)	23.12	Westwood, United States	20 May 1990
Olympic record	Ulf Timmermann (GDR)	22.47	Seoul, South Korea	23 September 1988

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition. The following national record were set during this competition.

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)