Discus Throw, Women

The discus throw was considered wide open, but nobody was quite prepared for what eventuated. In round one, American thrower Stephanie Brown Trafton opened a big lead with 64.74 (212-5), and that was all she would need to win the gold medal, eventually winning by 1.10 metres over Cuba’s Yarelis Barrios. Barrios got her best throw in round two. Brown Trafton struggled after her opener with three fouls, and her next best throw was only 61.30 (201-1), but the opener was all she needed. This was the first throwing gold medal by an American woman since 1932. Brown Trafton had almost no international experience, competing at Athina in 2004, but not making the final. She had never ranked in the world top ten, her best year-end American ranking had been 3rd in 2004 and 2006, and she had placed only third at the US Olympic Trials prior to Beijing. But she was the world list leader coming into the Olympics, although that throw (66.17 [217-1]) had been done with some helpful winds.

That was how the event and the results seemed to have ended. In 2015, however, the IOC began re-testing samples from the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics, using newer, more advanced testing techniques, in an effort to find those who had used performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), but in whom it could not be detected at the time of those Olympics. This was one of the many events affected.

In September 2016 Yarelis Barrios (CUB) was revealed to have a positive re-test for acetazolamide, and was disqualified, losing her silver medal. Ukrainian Olena Antonova was advanced to the silver medal, and China’s Song Aimin was advanced to the bronze medal. In 2012 Barrios benefited from re-testing when she was moved up to a bronze medal after the disqualification of Russian Darya Pishchalnikova.