1920 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Discus Throw (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	Discus throw
gender	Men
Attendees	16 athletes from 8 countries
Competition location	Antwerp Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	August 21, 1920 (qualification) August 22, 1920 (final)
Medalist Elmer Niklander ( FIN )   Armas Taipale ( FIN )   Gus Pope ( USA )

The men's discus throw at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp was played on August 21 and 22, 1920 in the Antwerp Olympic Stadium. 16 athletes took part.

The Finnish team celebrated a double victory. Elmer Niklander won the gold medal, silver went to Armas Taipale . Gus Pope from the USA won bronze.

Athletes from Switzerland did not take part. Germany and Austria were excluded from these games.

Existing records

World record	James Duncan ( USA )	47.58 m	new York	May 12, 1912
Olympic record	Armas Taipale ( Grand Duchy of Finland )	45.21 m	Stockholm	July 12, 1912

Conducting the competition

All 16 throwers had to complete a qualifying round on August 21st (start: 3:45 pm). The best six athletes advanced to the finals, which began on August 22nd at 10 a.m.

Note: The qualified throwers are highlighted in light blue.

qualification

Date: August 21, 1920, 3:45 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Expanse	annotation
1	Elmer Niklander	Finland	44.69 m
2	Armas Taipale	Finland	44.19 m
3	Gus Pope	United States	42.13 m
4th	William Bartlett	United States	40.88 m
5	Oscar Zallhagen	Sweden	40.16 m
6th	Allan Eriksson	Sweden	39.41 m
7th	Valther Jensen	Denmark	38.23 m
8th	Ville Pörhölä	Finland	38.19 m
9	Aurelio Lenzi	Italy	37.75 m
10	Kenneth Wilson	United States	37.58 m
11	André Tison	France	37.35 m
12	Jonni Myyra	Finland	37.00 m
13	František Hoplíček	Czechoslovakia	36.75 m
14th	Émile Écuyer	France	36.10 m
15th	Daniel Pierre	France	35.53 m
16	Arthur Delaender	Belgium	32.00 m

final

space	Surname	nation	Expanse	annotation
1	Elmer Niklander	Finland	44.685 m
2	Armas Taipale	Finland	44.190 m
3	Gus Pope	United States	42.130 m
4th	Oscar Zallhagen	Sweden	41,070 m
5	William Bartlett	United States	40.875 m
6th	Allan Eriksson	Sweden	39.410 m

Date: August 22, 1920, 10:00 a.m.

Armas Taipale, the 1912 Olympic champion , contributed with his silver medal to a Finnish double victory that had already been given in the shot put . The gold medal was won by the Olympic shot put runner-up, Elmer Niklander, also fourth in the discus throw from 1912.

Only the Swede Oscar Zallhagen could improve in the final. Kenneth Bartlett threw exactly the same distance as in the elimination the day before. All other finalists took their distances from the qualification.

Niklander's gold medal was the second consecutive Finnish discus victory.

Picture gallery

• 

  Olympic champion Elmer Niklander (FIN) in a shot from 1912 during the shot put

• 

  Defending champion Armas Taipale (FIN) wins silver (photo from 1912)

• 

  Ville Pörhölä (FIN), Olympic champion in shot put, finished seventh

• 

  The Finn Jonni Myyrä, here throwing the javelin, achieved 12th place

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 146f

Web links

• SportsReference Discus Throw , accessed September 3, 2017
• Official report , French (PDF), accessed on September 3, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 page 557 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ^ Official report, page 115 (French) ( Memento of October 7, 2018 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ SportsReference (Eng.)