Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's shot put

Men's shot put at the Games of the XIX Olympiad
Venue	Estadio Olímpico Universitario
Date	October 13–14
Competitors	19 from 14 nations
Winning distance	20.54 OR
Medalists
Randy Matson   United States   George Woods   United States   Eduard Gushchin   Soviet Union

Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men		women
200 m		men		women
400 m		men		women
800 m		men		women
1500 m		men
5000 m		men
10,000 m		men
80 m hurdles				women
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men
3000 m steeplechase		men
4×100 m relay		men		women
4×400 m relay		men
Road events
Marathon		men
20 km walk		men
50 km walk		men
Field events
Long jump		men		women
Triple jump		men
High jump		men		women
Pole vault		men
Shot put		men		women
Discus throw		men		women
Javelin throw		men		women
Hammer throw		men
Combined events
Pentathlon				women
Decathlon		men

The Men's shot put competition at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico took place on October 13–14.

Competition format

The competition consisted of two rounds, qualification and final. 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.

Records

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

World record	Randy Matson (USA)	21.78 m	College Station, United States	April 23, 1967
Olympic record	Dallas Long (USA)	20.33 m	Tokyo, Japan	October 17, 1964

Results

Qualifying round

Qual. rule: qualification standard 18.90m (Q) or at least best 12 qualified (q).

Rank	Group	Name	Nationality	#1	#2	#3	Result	Notes
3	A	Matson, RandyRandy Matson	United States	18.30	19.75	–	19.75	Q
1	A	Gushchin, EduardEduard Gushchin	Soviet Union	19.88	–	–	19.88	Q
2	A	Woods, GeorgeGeorge Woods	United States	19.79	–	–	19.79	Q
3	A	Hoffmann, DieterDieter Hoffmann	East Germany	18.30	19.75	–	19.75	Q
5	B	Colnard, PierrePierre Colnard	France	19.57	–	–	19.57	Q
6	A	Birlenbach, HeinfriedHeinfried Birlenbach	West Germany	19.43	–	–	19.43	Q
7	A	Maggard, DaveDave Maggard	United States	18.73	19.26	–	19.26	Q
8	A	Grabe, UweUwe Grabe	East Germany	18.08	18.59	19.15	19.15	Q
9	A	Komar, WładysławWładysław Komar	Poland	19.09	–	–	19.09	Q
10	A	Glöckler, TraugottTraugott Glöckler	West Germany	18.89	19.09	–	19.09	Q
11	B	Mills, LesLes Mills	New Zealand	18.56	19.00	–	19.00	Q
12	B	Teale, JeffJeff Teale	Great Britain	18.76	X	18.87	18.87	q
13	A	Varjú, VilmosVilmos Varjú	Hungary	18.69	X	18.86	18.86
14	B	Beer, ArnjoltArnjolt Beer	France	18.72	X	X	18.72
15	B	Hubacher, EdyEdy Hubacher	Switzerland	18.54	18.38	X	18.54
16	B	Hermannsson, GuðmundurGuðmundur Hermannsson	Iceland	16.24	16.77	17.35	17.35
17	B	Lemonis, GeorgiosGeorgios Lemonis	Greece	16.43	X	X	16.43
18	B	Mendoza, RolandoRolando Mendoza	Nicaragua	11.39	13.33	13.32	13.33
19	B	Jubis, MauricioMauricio Jubis	El Salvador	12.04	12.46	12.92	12.92

Final

Rank	Name	Nationality	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5	#6	Result	Notes
	Matson, RandyRandy Matson	United States	20.54	20.09	18.67	20.15	20.02	20.18	20.54	OR
	Woods, GeorgeGeorge Woods	United States	20.12	X	X	–	19.19	X	20.12
	Gushchin, EduardEduard Gushchin	Soviet Union	20.09	19.45	19.69	X	X	19.41	20.09
4	Hoffmann, DieterDieter Hoffmann	East Germany	20.00	19.33	19.75	19.68	19.85	19.86	20.00
5	Maggard, DaveDave Maggard	United States	19.43	19.33	19.75	19.68	19.85	19.86	19.43
6	Komar, WładysławWładysław Komar	Poland	18.66	19.28	18.54	X	X	19.21	19.28
7	Grabe, UweUwe Grabe	East Germany	18.20	18.74	19.03	17.43	17.66	18.34	19.03
8	Birlenbach, HeinfriedHeinfried Birlenbach	West Germany	18.80	18.48	X	18.13	18.67	X	18.80
9	Colnard, PierrePierre Colnard	France	18.62	X	18.79	N/A			18.79
10	Teale, JeffJeff Teale	Great Britain	18.65	18.57	18.60	N/A			18.65
11	Mills, LesLes Mills	New Zealand	18.18	18.01	17.95	N/A			18.18
12	Glöckler, TraugottTraugott Glöckler	West Germany	X	17.20	18.14	N/A			18.14

References

• Official Olympic Report, la84foundation.org. Retrieved August 13, 2012.