Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's shot put

Men's shot put at the Games of the XX Olympiad
Venue	Olympic Stadium
Dates	September 8 & 9
Medalists
Władysław Komar  Poland George Woods  United States Hartmut Briesenick  East Germany

Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men		women
200 m		men		women
400 m		men		women
800 m		men		women
1500 m		men		women
5000 m		men
10,000 m		men
100 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		women
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 field event at the 1972 Olympic Games took place on September 8 & 9. The United States has not lost this event since 1936. The East German throwers were expected to pose a big challenge in these games, as well as the throwers from Poland. Brian Oldfield from the United States was the first person to use a new technique, a technique that is similar to the discus throwing style. The thrower uses a rotational spin before releasing the shot put.

Results

All throwers reaching and the top 12 including ties advanced to the finals. Shown in blue. All distances are listed in metres.

Qualifying

Rank	Name	Nationality	Group	Mark	1st throw	2nd throw	3rd throw
1	Władysław Komar	Poland	A	20.60	20.60	p	p
2	Hartmut Briesenick	East Germany	B	20.38	20.38	p	p
3	Heinfried Birlenbach	West Germany	B	20.10	20.10	p	p
4	George Woods	United States	A	19.96	19.96	p	p
5	Brian Oldfield	United States	B	19.95	19.95	p	p
6T	Al Feuerbach	United States	A	19.94	19.94	p	p
6T	Vilmos Varjú	Hungary	B	19.94	19.94	p	p
8	Yves Brouzet	France	A	19.87	19.87	p	p
9	Jaroslav Brabec	Czechoslovakia	A	19.82	19.82	p	p
10	Jaromír Vlk	Czechoslovakia	B	19.61	x	18.20	19.61
11	Seppo Simola	Finland	A	19.49	19.49	p	p
12	Lahcen Samsam Akka	Morocco	B	19.36	18.98	19.36	p
13	Rimantas Plungė	Soviet Union	B	19.18	18.97	19.18	p
14	Bruce Pirnie	Canada	B	19.18	19.18	p	p
15	Ralf Reichenbach	West Germany	A	19.14	19.14	p	p
16	Traugott Glöckler	West Germany	B	19.11	18.15	19.11	p
17	Hans-Peter Gies	East Germany	A	19.06	19.06	p	p
18	Heinz-Joachim Rothenburg	East Germany	A	19.03	19.03	p	p
19	Ivan Ivančić	Yugoslavia	B	18.95	18.80	18.95	x
20	Geoff Capes	Great Britain	B	18.94	18.94	18.72	18.79
21	Arnjolt Beer	France	B	18.74	18.55	18.74	18.21
22	Aleksandr Baryshnikov	Soviet Union	A	18.65	18.45	18.41	18.65
23	Les Mills	New Zealand	B	18.38	17.61	18.38	x
24	Bo Grahn	Finland	B	18.20	x	x	18.20
25	Loukas Louka	Greece	A	17.48	17.47	17.48	x
26	Jugraj Singh	India	A	17.15	x	17.15	16.69
27	Phil Conway	Ireland	B	16.69	16.16	15.76	16.69
28	Christopher Okonkwo	Nigeria	A	16.51	14.98	x	16.51
29	Hussein Al-Taib Maki	Saudi Arabia	A	11.57	x	11.57	10.77
-	Youssef Nagui Assaad	23x15px Egypt	A	DNS
-	Bjorn Andersen	Norway	A	DNS
-	William Tancred	Great Britain	A	DNS
-	Aristides Lanier	Cuba	B	DNS
-	Salvatore Morale	Italy	B	DNS
-	Vassil Kroumov	Bulgaria	B	DNS

Final

Rank	Name	Nationality	Mark	1st throw	2nd throw	3rd throw	4th throw	5th throw	6th throw	Notes
	Władysław Komar	Poland	21.18	21.18	x	20.55	20.74	20.80	x	OR
	George Woods	United States	21.17	20.55	20.17	20.71	21.17	20.88	21.05
	Hartmut Briesenick	East Germany	21.14	20.97	20.91	21.02	21.14	20.61	20.54
4	Hans-Peter Gies	East Germany	21.14	21.14	21.00	21.01	20.62	x	x
5	Al Feuerbach	United States	21.01	20.90	20.29	x	20.86	21.01	20.28
6	Brian Oldfield	United States	20.91	20.85	20.60	20.87	20.54	20.91	20.13
7	Heinfried Birlenbach	West Germany	20.37	20.37	x	x	19.89	x	20.13
8	Vilmos Varjú	Hungary	20.10	20.10	x	x	x	19.67	19.65
9	Jaromír Vlk	Czechoslovakia	20.09	19.66	20.09	x
10	Jaroslav Brabec	Czechoslovakia	19.86	19.61	19.86	19.60
11	Heinz-Joachim Rothenburg	East Germany	19.74	19.74	x	x
12	Yves Brouzet	France	19.61	19.42	19.61	19.49
13	Ralf Reichenbach	West Germany	19.48	19.48	x	x
14	Rimantas Plungė	Soviet Union	19.30	19.30	x	x
15	Lahcen Samsam Akka	Morocco	19.11	19.11	x	x
16	Seppo Simola	Finland	19.06	18.91	19.06	x
17	Bruce Pirnie	Canada	18.90	18.90	x	x
18	Traugott Glöckler	West Germany	18.85	18.85	18.47	x

Key: p = pass; x = fault; NM = no mark; T = tied; DNS = did not start

References

• Sports Reference
• Official report