1988 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Discus Throw (Women)

sport	athletics
discipline	Discus throw
gender	Women
Attendees	22 athletes from 13 countries
Competition location	Seoul Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	September 28, 1988 (qualifying) September 29, 1988 (final)
Medalists Martina Hellmann ( GDR )   Diana Gansky ( GDR )   Tsvetanka Christowa ( BUL )

The women's discus throw at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul was played in two rounds on September 28 and 29, 1988 in the Seoul Olympic Stadium. 22 athletes took part.

Martina Hellmann from the GDR became Olympic champion . She won ahead of her compatriot Diana Gansky and the Bulgarian Zwetanka Christowa .

In addition to the medalists, Gabriele Reinsch took part for the GDR . She also reached the final and came in seventh.
Athletes from the Federal Republic of Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Current titleholders

Olympic champion 1984	Ria Stalman ( Netherlands )	65.36 m	Los Angeles 1984
World Champion 1987	Martina Hellmann ( GDR )	71.62 m	Rome 1987
European champion 1986	Diana Gansky , then Diana Sachse ( GDR )	71.36 m	Stuttgart 1986
Pan American Champion 1987	Maritza Martén ( Cuba )	65.58 m	Indianapolis 1987
Central America and Caribbean Champion 1987	Bárbara Hechevarría ( Cuba )	54.94 m	Caracas 1987
South American Champion 1987	Luz María Quiñonez ( Ecuador )	48.00 m	São Paulo 1987
Asian champion 1987	Xing Ailan ( People's Republic of China )	58.08 m	Singapore 1987
African champion in 1988	Grace Apiafi ( Nigeria )	50.60 m	Annaba 1988

Existing records

World record	76.80 m	Gabriele Reinsch ( GDR )	Neubrandenburg , GDR (now Germany )	July 9, 1988
Olympic record	69.96 m	Evelin Jahl ( GDR )	Final of Moscow , Soviet Union (today Russia )	August 1, 1980

Internal qualification in the GDR

In 1988 there was a very high level in this discipline in the GDR with more than three discus throwers who would have had a chance of winning an Olympic medal. In order to determine the third starter alongside European champion Diana Gansky, former Diana Sachse, and world record holder Gaby Reinsch, the GDR sports management set an internal qualification on September 6th in East Berlin in camera. This was not reported to the IAAF as an official competition, so that any records could not be recognized.

In this competition, the later Olympic champion and reigning world champion Martina Hellmann broke the official world record twice. Her furthest throw was 78.14 m, which is still unreached to this day. The world championship fourth from 1987 and junior world champion Ilke Wyludda came second on 75.36 m. This distance would have been a junior world record back then and until today - as of February 2017 - it has only been exceeded by world record holder Reinsch. Nevertheless, Wyludda missed the Olympic qualification. It is not known whether other female throwers took part in this internal competition.

qualification

Date: September 28, 1988

For the qualification, the athletes were drawn into two groups. The qualification distance for the direct entry into the final was 62.50 m. Since exactly twelve throwers exceeded this distance (highlighted in light blue), the final field was not filled any further.

Group A

Diana Gansky from the GDR, winner of the silver medal

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	Expanse	annotation
1	Zdeňka Šilhavá	Czechoslovakia	66.52 m	-	-	66.52 m
2	Diana Gansky	GDR	65.40 m	-	-	65.40 m
3	Svetla Mitkova	Bulgaria	64.68 m	-	-	64.68 m
4th	Laryssa Mychaltchenko	Soviet Union	x	x	64.32 m	64.32 m
5	Yu Hourun	People's Republic of China	61.22 m	62.86 m	-	62.86 m
6th	Galina Murašova	Soviet Union	57.28 m	61.46 m	62.54 m	62.54 m
7th	Ramona Pagel	United States	57.50 m	55.86 m	53.12 m	57.50 m
8th	Connie Price	United States	51.78 m	53.36 m	57.04 m	57.04 m
9	Jacqueline McKernan	Great Britain	50.92 m	x	x	50.92 m
10	Kim Chun-hee	South Korea	45.00 m	x	45.88 m	45.88 m
ogV	Jeanne-Nicole Ngo Minyemeck	Cameroon	x	x	x		without space

Group B

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	Expanse	annotation
1	Martina Hellmann	GDR	67.12 m	-	-	67.12 m
2	Gabriele Reinsch	GDR	x	59.18 m	66.88 m	66.88 m
3	Tsvetanka Christova	Bulgaria	65.92 m	-	-	65.92 m
4th	Elina Swerava	Soviet Union	63.26 m	-	-	63.26 m
5	Carol Cady	United States	60.08 m	56.38 m	62.72 m	62.72 m
6th	Hou Xuemei	People's Republic of China	62.64 m	-	-	62.64 m
7th	Renata Katewicz	Poland	58.60 m	57.20 m	60.34 m	60.34 m
8th	Xing Ailan	People's Republic of China	57.74 m	59.26 m	59.20 m	59.26 m
9	María Isabel Urrutia	Colombia	53.82 m	48.90 m	52.06 m	53.82 m
10	Grace Apiafi	Nigeria	49.84 m	49.52 m	48.40 m	49.84 m
11	Siololovau Ikavuka	Tonga	44.94 m	43.28 m	43.78 m	44.94 m

final

Olympic champion Martina Hellmann, GDR

Date: September 29, 1988

Twelve athletes had qualified for the final over the required qualification range. This was achieved by all three participants from the GDR and the USSR. There were also two athletes from Bulgaria and China. as well as one participant each from Czechoslovakia and the United States.

Favorites, were the three throwers from East Germany 's world record holder Gabriele Reinsch, world champion Martina Hellmann and European champion Diana Gansky and the World Cup -Third and Vice European Champion Zwetanka Christowa from Bulgaria.

In the first round, Hellmann took the lead with the new Olympic record of 71.84 m. The closest to her came first with 67.40 m, the Czechoslovak Zdeňka Šilhavá, third was Reinsch with 67.26 m. This order remained unchanged up to and including round four. Only the leading Hellman could improve to 72.30 m. But passes five and six mixed everything up again. In the fifth attempt, Gansky reached 71.88 m, with which she advanced to second place. Christowa threw the discus on 69.74 m, that was third place. Šilhavá improved their distance to 67.84 m, but initially stayed in fourth place. In the last round the Bulgarian Svetla Mitkova achieved 69.14 m, which brought her fourth place in the final round. Elina Swerava from the USSR did not stay far behind with 68.94 m and finished fifth. Nothing changed in the medal ranks, Martina Hellmann became Olympic champion with a new Olympic record. Diana Gansky, former Diana Sachse, won the silver medal and bronze went to Zwetanka Christowa. Thus the medal podium was occupied in exactly the same order as at the World Championships in 1987. Zdeňka Šilhavá had dropped to sixth place in the last round, while Gaby Reinsch was only seventh with her best result from round one.

The top-class widths achieved here were at the top level that we are used to in those years. As in other disciplines, there was a steady decline in quality in the following years - seen by numerous experts as a result of a changed approach to the subject of doping. However, this problem has not yet been solved by far. Time and again there is appalling evidence of large-scale doping abuse. Consequences are u. a. Demands for the withdrawal of all existing athletics records.

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	4th attempt	5th attempt	6th attempt	Bottom line	annotation
1	Martina Hellmann	GDR	71.84 m OR	64.80 m	68.70 m	72.30 m OR	69.66 m	67.50 m	72.30 m	OR
2	Diana Gansky	GDR	65.58 m	66.14 m	x	65.82 m	71.88 m	68.08 m	71.88 m
3	Tsvetanka Christova	Bulgaria	66.48 m	66.44 m	64.06 m	66.84 m	69.74 m	69.00 m	69.74 m
4th	Svetla Mitkova	Bulgaria	63.62 m	65.74 m	65.56 m	67.24 m	x	69.14 m	69.14 m
5	Elina Swerava	Soviet Union	x	65.74 m	66.86 m	x	x	68.94 m	68.94 m
6th	Zdeňka Šilhavá	Czechoslovakia	67.40 m	x	65.70 m	66.30 m	67.84 m	66.50 m	67.84 m
7th	Gabriele Reinsch	GDR	67.26 m	66.50 m	63.30 m	65.88 m	66.40 m	x	67.26 m
8th	Hou Xuemei	People's Republic of China	63.44 m	63.88 m	65.18 m	65.94 m	65.50 m	65.06 m	65.94 m
9	Yu Hourun	People's Republic of China	62.94 m	x	64.08 m	not in the final of the eight best throwers			64.08 m
10	Laryssa Mychaltchenko	Soviet Union	x	64.08 m	x				64.08 m
11	Carol Cady	United States	60.82 m	61.06 m	63.42 m				63.42 m
ogV	Galina Murašova	Soviet Union	x	x	x					without space

Web links

• SportsReference Discus Throw , accessed February 2, 2018
• Official report on the Olympic Games in Seoul Volume two, part two , athletics results: p. 266f, English / French (PDF; 25.6 MB), accessed on February 2, 2018

Video

• Martina Hellmann / 71.84m / Seoul / 1988 , published August 3, 2016 on youtube.com, accessed February 2, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ^ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Beijing 2015, page 801 , accessed on February 2, 2018
2. ↑ Official report on the Olympic Games in Seoul Volume two, part two , athletics results: p. 266f, English / French (PDF; 25.6 MB), accessed on February 2, 2018
3. ↑ Official report on the Olympic Games in Seoul Volume two, part two , athletics results: p. 267, English / French (PDF; 25.6 MB), accessed on February 2, 2018
4. ↑ Michael Reinsch, Tabula rasa for track and field records , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, updated on May 3, 2017, accessed on February 2, 2018