1988 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Discus Throw (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	Discus throw
gender	Men
Attendees	29 athletes from 21 countries
Competition location	Seoul Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	September 30, 1988 (qualifying) October 1, 1988 (final)
Medalist Jürgen Schult ( GDR )   Romas Ubartas ( URS )   Rolf Danneberg ( FRG )

The men's discus throw at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul was played in two rounds on September 30th and October 1st, 1988 in the Seoul Olympic Stadium. 29 athletes took part.

Olympic champion was Jürgen Schult from the GDR. He won ahead of Romas Ubartas from the Soviet Union and Rolf Danneberg from the Federal Republic of Germany.

In addition to the medalist Danneberg, Wulf Brunner and Alois Hannecker competed for the Federal Republic of Germany . Brunner failed in the qualification. Hannecker reached the final and was eighth.
Athletes from Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Current title holders

Olympic champion 1984	Rolf Danneberg ( Federal Republic of Germany )	66.60 m	Los Angeles 1984
World Champion 1987	Jürgen Schult ( GDR )	68.74 m	Rome 1987
European champion 1986	Romas Ubartas ( Soviet Union )	67.08 m	Stuttgart 1986
Pan American champion 1987	Luis Delís ( Cuba )	67.14 m	Indianapolis 1987
Central America and Caribbean Champion 1987	Roberto Moya ( Cuba )	60.10 m	Caracas 1987
South America Champion 1987	Carlos Brynner ( Argentina )	55.34 m	São Paulo 1987
Asian champion 1987	Li Weinan ( People's Republic of China )	56.10 m	Singapore 1987
African Champion 1988	Adewale Olukoju ( Nigeria )	62.12 m	Annaba 1988

Existing records

The Icelander Vésteinn Hafsteinsson came in tenth place in his qualifying group and was eliminated

The Dutchman Erik de Bruin finished ninth in the final

World record	74.08 m	Jürgen Schult ( GDR )	Neubrandenburg , GDR (now Germany )	June 6, 1986
Olympic record	68.28 m	Mac Wilkins ( USA )	Montreal , Canada Qualifying	July 24, 1976

qualification

Date: September 30, 1988

For the qualification, the athletes were drawn into two groups. The qualifying distance for reaching the finals directly was 64.00 m. Since only three throwers exceeded this distance (highlighted in light blue), the final field was filled with the next best throwers from both groups to twelve starters (highlighted in light green). A width of 61.34 m was finally sufficient for participation in the finals.

Group A

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	Expanse	annotation
1	Mac Wilkins	United States	62.48 m	x	61.34 m	62.48 m
2	Yuri Dumchev	Soviet Union	61.30 m	60.24 m	62.08 m	62.08 m
3	Imrich Bugár	Czechoslovakia	61.94 m	61.48 m	61.00 m	61.94 m
4th	Georgi Georgiev	Bulgaria	59.78 m	61.34 m	x	61.34 m
5	Vaclavas Kidykas	Soviet Union	58.82 m	60.88 m	x	60.88 m
6th	Svein Inge Valvik	Norway	59.40 m	x	60.64 m	60.64 m
7th	Werner Reiterer	Australia	x	57.58 m	59.78 m	59.78 m
8th	Randall Heisler	United States	x	x	59.08 m	59.08 m
9	Patrick Journoud	France	58.94 m	57.62 m	55.82 m	58.94 m
10	Wulf Brunner	BR Germany	x	57.50 m	x	57.50 m
11	Adewale Olukoju	Nigeria	51.38 m	54.44 m	47.60 m	54.44 m
12	Henry Smith	Western Samoa	47.96 m	49.40 m	48.98 m	49.40 m
13	Min Se-hun	South Korea	x	46.52 m	47.84 m	47.84 m
ogV	Eggert Bogason	Iceland	x	x	x		without space
	Ibrahim Mohamed Al-Ouiran	Saudi Arabia

Group B

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	Expanse	annotation
1	Rolf Danneberg	BR Germany	65.70 m	-	-	65.70 m
2	Romas Ubartas	Soviet Union	65.58 m	-	x	65.58 m
3	Jürgen Schult	GDR	64.70 m	-	-	64.70 m
4th	Knut Hjeltnes	Norway	63.50 m	62.66 m	x	63.50 m
5	Gejza Valent	Czechoslovakia	61.88 m	62.84 m	63.46 m	63.46 m
6th	Michael Buncic	United States	x	63.16 m	x	63.16 m
7th	Erik de Bruin	Netherlands	58.56 m	60.72 m	61.66 m	61.66 m
8th	Alois Hannecker	BR Germany	61.44 m	x	x	61.44 m
9	Bradley Cooper	Bahamas	59.74 m	56.88 m	56.44 m	59.74 m
10	Vésteinn Hafsteinsson	Iceland	58.94 m	57.10 m	55.70 m	58.94 m
11	Paul Mardle	Great Britain	57.18 m	56.06 m	58.28 m	58.28 m
12	Ray Lazdins	Canada	57.94 m	x	x	57.94 m
13	Ramón Jiménez Gaona	Paraguay	50.18 m	48.80 m	50.90 m	50.90 m
ogV	Mohamed Hamed Naguib	Egypt	x	-	-		without space

final

Olympic champion Jürgen Schuld, GDR

Date: October 1, 1988

Twelve athletes had qualified for the final, three of them over the required qualification distance. The field of finalists consisted of two athletes each from the USA, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia. There was also a thrower from Bulgaria, the GDR, the Netherlands and Norway.

World champion and world record holder Jürgen Schult from the GDR was the favorite in the field. The most promising competitors were the Soviet European champion Romas Ubartas and the 1984 Olympic champion Rolf Danneberg from the Federal Republic of Germany. Due to his country's Olympic boycott , the strong Cuban World Cup third Luis Delís was missing .

In the first attempt, Jürgen Schult achieved 68.82 m, which meant a new Olympic record and ultimately the gold medal. With four of his five other attempts, Schult exceeded the top distance of second-placed Romas Ubartas, who reached 67.48 m in the last attempt and thus won the silver medal. With this throw he pushed Rolf Danneberg to the bronze place, who had managed 67.38 m in the penultimate attempt. Yuri Dumchev from the USSR was fourth a meter behind Danneberg and the 1976 Olympic champion Mac Wilkins, USA, reached fifth place ten centimeters ahead of the Czechoslovak Gejza Valent a further half a meter back.

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	4th attempt	5th attempt	6th attempt	Bottom line	annotation
1	Jürgen Schult	GDR	68.82 m OR	67.92 m	65.76 m	68.18 m	65.70 m	68.26 m	68.82 m	OR
2	Romas Ubartas	Soviet Union	66.86 m	66.20 m	66.24 m	64.40 m	63.74 m	67.48 m	67.48 m
3	Rolf Danneberg	BR Germany	65.58 m	63.60 m	x	63.88 m	67.38 m	62.56 m	67.38 m
4th	Yuri Dumchev	Soviet Union	64.00 m	63.74 m	63.54 m	63.66 m	62.86 m	66.42 m	66.42 m
5	Mac Wilkins	United States	61.88 m	x	65.12 m	63.84 m	65.90 m	62.96 m	65.90 m
6th	Gejza Valent	Czechoslovakia	x	63.36 m	62.46 m	62.80 m	64.28 m	65.80 m	65.80 m
7th	Knut Hjeltnes	Norway	63.30 m	x	64.10 m	64.94 m	63.22 m	x	64.94 m
8th	Alois Hannecker	BR Germany	60.28 m	62.50 m	63.28 m	60.94 m	61.54 m	x	63.28 m
9	Erik de Bruin	Netherlands	63.06 m	x	x	not in the final of the eight best throwers			63.06 m
10	Michael Buncic	United States	62.46 m	x	x				62.46 m
11	Georgi Georgiev	Bulgaria	61.24 m	61.12 m	59.66 m				61.24 m
12	Imrich Bugár	Czechoslovakia	59.60 m	x	60.88 m				60.88 m

Web links

• SportsReference Discus Throw , accessed January 28, 2018
• Official report on the Olympic Games in Seoul Volume two, part two , athletics results: p. 244f, English / French (PDF, 25.64 MB), accessed on January 28, 2018

Video

• 1988 Olympics - Men's Discus Throw , published June 21, 2012 on youtube.com, accessed January 28, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ^ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Beijing 2015, page 679 , accessed on January 28, 2018
2. ↑ Official report on the Olympic Games in Seoul Volume two, part two , results in athletics: p. 244, English / French (PDF, 25.64 MB), accessed on January 28, 2018
3. ↑ Official report on the Olympic Games in Seoul Volume two, part two , athletics results: p. 245, English / French (PDF, 25.64 MB), accessed on January 28, 2018