1968 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Shot Put (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	Shot put
gender	Men
Attendees	19 athletes from 14 countries
Competition location	Estadio Olímpico Universitario
Competition phase	October 13, 1968 (qualification) October 14, 1968 (final)
Medalist Randy Matson ( USA )   George Woods ( USA )   Eduard Gushchin ( URS )

The shot put men at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City was on 13 and 14 October 1968 at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario held. 19 athletes took part.

The American Randy Matson became Olympic champion . He won ahead of his compatriot George Woods and Eduard Guschtschin from the Soviet Union.

For the Federal Republic of Germany - officially Germany - Traugott Glöckler and Heinfried Birlenbach started , both of whom reached the final. Birlenbach was eighth, Glöckler twelfth.
The GDR - officially East Germany - was represented by Uwe Grabe and Dieter Hoffmann , who also both reached the final. Hoffmann was fourth, Grabe seventh. Edy Hubacher , who became Olympic champion in the four-man bobsleigh in Sapporo in 1972
, competed for Switzerland . Hubacher failed because of the qualification range. Athletes from Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Existing records

World record	21.78 m	Randy Matson ( USA )	College Station , USA	April 22, 1967
Olympic record	20.33 m	Dallas Long ( USA )	Tokyo finals , Japan	17th October 1964

Conducting the competition

The athletes competed on October 13 for a qualifying round that was completed in two groups. The twelve best starters qualified for the final. The qualification distance for directly reaching the final on October 14th was 18.90 m. Since only eleven participants made this qualification distance, the next best thrower was allowed to start as the twelfth in the final. There, each participant initially had three attempts. For the first time, the eight best - and not the six best, as was the case until 1964 - athletes were then able to complete three more attempts.

Time schedule

October 13, 10 a.m .: Qualification

October 14, 3:30 p.m .: Final

Note: All times are Mexico City local time ( UTC −6)

The athletes qualified over the distance are highlighted in light blue, the others in light green.

qualification

Date: October 13, 1968, from 10 a.m.

Group A

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	Expanse	annotation
1	Randy Matson	United States	20.68 m OR	-	-	20.68 m	OR
2	Eduard Gushchin	Soviet Union	19.88 m	-	-	19.88 m
3	George Woods	United States	19.79 m	-	-	19.79 m
4th	Dieter Hoffmann	GDR	18.30 m	19.75 m	-	19.75 m
5	Heinfried Birlenbach	BR Germany	19.43 m	-	-	19.43 m
6th	Dave Maggard	United States	18.73 m	19.26 m	-	19.26 m
7th	Uwe Grabe	GDR	18.08 m	18.59 m	19.15 m	19.15 m
8th	Wladyslaw Komar	Poland	19.09 m	-	-	19.09 m
9	Traugott Glöckler	BR Germany	18.89 m	19.08 m	-	19.08 m
10	Vilmos Varjú	Hungary	18.69 m	x	18.86 m	18.86 m

Group B

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	Expanse	annotation
1	Pierre Colnard	France	19.57 m	-	-	19.57 m
2	Les Mills	New Zealand	18.56 m	19.00 m	-	19.00 m
3	Jeff Teale	Great Britain	18.76 m	x	18.87 m	18.87 m
4th	Arnjolt Beer	France	18.72 m	x	x	18.72 m
5	Edy Hubacher	Switzerland	18.54 m	18.38 m	x	18.54 m
6th	Guðmundur Hermannsson	Iceland	16.24 m	16.77 m	17.35 m	17.35 m
7th	Georgios Lemonis	Greece	16.43 m	x	x	16.43 m
8th	Rolando Mendoza	Nicaragua	11.39 m	13.33 m	13.32 m	13.33 m
9	Mauricio Jubis	El Salvador	12.04 m	12.46 m	12.92 m	12.92 m

final

Date: October 14, 1968, 3:30 p.m.

The favorite role fell to the 1964 silver medalist and world record holder Randy Matson from the USA. His compatriot George Woods was the main candidate for the silver medal. The question of who would win bronze was more open because there was a smaller circle. The main traders were the European Eduard Guschtschin from the USSR, who had set a European record shortly before the games, the West German Heinfried Birlenbach, who held the European record before Guschtschin, and the GDR athlete Dieter Hoffmann, who had already exceeded the 20-meter mark.

In qualifying, Matson Dallas Long's Olympic record improved from 1964 by 35 centimeters to 20.68 m. He was the only one to exceed 20 meters in this elimination. In the final, the placement in the first five places was already decided after the first round. None of the athletes could improve. Randy Matson stayed a good ten centimeters under his width from the qualification, but that was enough for him to win the Olympic gold. George Woods also lived up to his role and won the silver medal with 20.12 m. Eduard Guschtschin won the battle for third place with 20.09 m, just ahead of Dieter Hoffmann, who came to exactly 20.00 m. Heinfried Birlenbach, still in the qualification with an appealing width, got stuck at 18.80 m and eighth place. He was caught by a gastrointestinal virus that was common at these games. In the 16th Olympic final, Randy Matson achieved the 14th US victory. It was also the sixth in a row.

For the USA it was the twelfth double victory, as well as the sixth in a row.

Eduard Gushchin won the first Soviet medal in this discipline.

• 

  Fourth place for Dieter Hoffmann from the GDR

• 

  Władysław Komar from Poland reached sixth place

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	4th attempt	5th attempt	6th attempt	Bottom line	annotation
1	Randy Matson	United States	20.54 m	20.09 m	18.67 m	20.15 m	20.02 m	20.18 m	20.54 m
2	George Woods	United States	20.12 m	x	x	-	19.19 m	x	20.12 m
3	Eduard Gushchin	Soviet Union	20.09 m	19.45 m	19.69 m	x	x	19.41 m	20.09 m
4th	Dieter Hoffmann	GDR	20.00 m	19.33 m	19.75 m	19.68 m	19.85 m	19.86 m	20.00 m
5	Dave Maggard	United States	19.43 m	19.33 m	18.46 m	18.90 m	19.15 m	x	19.43 m
6th	Wladyslaw Komar	Poland	18.66 m	19.28 m	18.54 m	x	x	19.21 m	19.28 m
7th	Uwe Grabe	GDR	18.20 m	18.74 m	19.03 m	17.43 m	17.66 m	18.34 m	19.03 m
8th	Heinfried Birlenbach	BR Germany	18.80 m	18.48 m	x	18.13 m	18.67 m	x	18.80 m
9	Pierre Colnard	France	18.62 m	x	18.79 m	not in the final of the eight best athletes			18.79 m
10	Jeff Teale	Great Britain	18.65 m	18.57 m	18.60 m				18.65 m
11	Les Mills	New Zealand	18.18 m	18.01 m	17.95 m				18.18 m
12	Traugott Glöckler	BR Germany	x	17.20 m	18.14 m				18.14 m

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, p. 365f

Video

• Randy Matson Olympics 1968 (20.54m) , published January 7, 2008 on youtube.com, accessed November 9, 2017

Web links

• SportsReference Shot Put , accessed November 9, 2017
• Official report - summary p. 102, English / French. (PDF), accessed on November 9, 2017
• Official report of the Olympic Games 1968 p. 529, English / French. (PDF), accessed on November 9, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 Page 557 (Engl.) ( Memento of 29 June 2011 at the Internet Archive ), accessed on November 9, 2017
2. ↑ Official report of the 1968 Olympic Games ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 10, English / French (PDF), accessed on November 9, 2017 
3. ↑ ^{a b} Official Report of the 1968 Olympic Games ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 529, engl./frz. (PDF), accessed on November 9, 2017 
4. ↑ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, p. 365f