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| Event type

Shot Put, Men

Date23 September 1988
StatusOlympic
LocationOl-lim-pik Ju-gyeong-gi-jang, Seoul Sports Complex, Seoul
Participants21 from 17 countries

The 1986 European Champion, and 1987 World Champion, was Switzerland’s Werner Günthör. But he had big challengers in East Germany’s Ulf Timmermann and Udo Beyer and America’s Randy Barnes. Timmermann was the world record holder with 23.06 (75-8) set in May 1988. Günthör opened in round one with 21.45 (70-4½) but Timmermann took the lead at the end of the round with 22.02 (72-3). That led thru round two, although Günthör improved to 21.59 (70-10). He improved again in the next round with 21.70 (71-2½) but Timmermann opened up a bit with 22.16 (72-8½). Beyer moved into third in round two with 21.40 (70-2½) while Barnes languished in fourth after three rounds, throwing only 20.72 (67-11¾) in the second. But he improved to 21.31 (69-11), but it did not improve his position. Round five saw Günthör improve to 21.99 (72-1¾), still in second, and Timmermann again improved his mark with 22.29 (73-1¾). Beyer and Günthör were done, having recorded their best marks, and seemingly securing medals. Then Barnes unleased an Olympic record 22.39 (73-5½) in the final round to move into the lead ahead of Timmermann, pushing Beyer to fourth. Timmermann was the last thrower of the competition, and responded with an Olympic record of 22.47 (73-8¾) to win the gold medal. The top three marks have still never been surpassed at the Olympics, possibly the victim of more stringent drug testing. Athletics historian Richard Hymans has called this )the greatest shot competition ever).

PosNrAthleteNOCQualifyingFinal
1482Ulf TimmermannGDR21.27 (1)22.47 (1)GoldOR
21070Randy BarnesUSA20.83 (3)22.39 (2)SilverOR
3937Werner GünthörSUI20.70 (4)21.99 (3)Bronze
4461Udo BeyerGDR20.97 (2)21.40 (4)
5980Remigius MachuraTCH20.16 (8)20.57 (5)
6195Gert WeilCHI20.18 (7)20.38 (6)
7575Alessandro AndreiITA20.18 (6)20.36 (7)
81061Sergey SmirnovURS20.48 (5)20.36 (8)
91133Gregg TafralisUSA19.71 (12)20.16 (9)
10810Georg AndersenNOR20.05 (9)19.91 (10)
111087Jim DoehringUSA19.73 (11)19.89 (11)
12849Helmut KriegerPOL19.75 (10)19.51 (12)
13 r1/2140Georgi TodorovBUL19.68 (13)
14 r1/2565Pétur GuðmundssonISL19.21 (14)
15 r1/2246Mohamed AchoucheEGY18.94 (15)
16 r1/251Klaus BodenmüllerAUT18.89 (16)
17 r1/2205Ma YongfengCHN18.27 (17)
18 r1/2249Ahmed Kamel ShattaEGY17.61 (18)
19 r1/2417Paul EdwardsGBR17.28 (19)
20 r1/2719Mohamed Al-ZinkawiKUW15.92 (20)
21 r1/2683Han Min-SuKOR15.68 (21)

Qualifying Round (23 September 1988 — 9:10)

Top 12 and ties and all those reaching 20.20 metres advanced to the final.

PosAthleteNOCDistance2nd Best
1Ulf TimmermannGDR21.27Q
2Udo BeyerGDR20.97Q
3Randy BarnesUSA20.83Q
4Werner GünthörSUI20.70Q
5Sergey SmirnovURS20.48Q
6Alessandro AndreiITA20.1819.93q
7Gert WeilCHI20.1819.59q
8Remigius MachuraTCH20.16q
9Georg AndersenNOR20.05q
10Helmut KriegerPOL19.75q
11Jim DoehringUSA19.73q
12Gregg TafralisUSA19.71q
13Georgi TodorovBUL19.68
14Pétur GuðmundssonISL19.21
15Mohamed AchoucheEGY18.94
16Klaus BodenmüllerAUT18.89
17Ma YongfengCHN18.27
18Ahmed Kamel ShattaEGY17.61
19Paul EdwardsGBR17.28
20Mohamed Al-ZinkawiKUW15.92
21Han Min-SuKOR15.68

Qualifying Round, Group A (23 September 1988)

PosOrdAthleteNOCDistanceR1R2R3
18Ulf TimmermannGDR21.2721.27--
25Randy BarnesUSA20.8320.1620.83-
311Alessandro AndreiITA20.1819.7220.1819.93
41Gert WeilCHI20.1820.1819.5819.59
56Jim DoehringUSA19.7316.8917.6619.73
67Georgi TodorovBUL19.6819.2519.0219.68
710Klaus BodenmüllerAUT18.8918.8917.54-
82Ma YongfengCHN18.2717.4817.7918.27
93Ahmed Kamel ShattaEGY17.6116.9417.6117.37
109Paul EdwardsGBR17.2817.1317.1117.28
114Han Min-SuKOR15.6815.6715.6815.64

Qualifying Round, Group B (23 September 1988)

PosOrdAthleteNOCDistanceR1R2R3
17Udo BeyerGDR20.97×20.97-
25Werner GünthörSUI20.7020.70--
31Sergey SmirnovURS20.4820.1320.48-
46Remigius MachuraTCH20.1619.8820.16×
58Georg AndersenNOR20.05×19.9520.05
63Helmut KriegerPOL19.7519.42×19.75
74Gregg TafralisUSA19.7119.7119.44×
82Pétur GuðmundssonISL19.2119.21××
99Mohamed AchoucheEGY18.9418.1918.9418.50
1010Mohamed Al-ZinkawiKUW15.92×15.3415.92

Final Round (23 September 1988 — 16:10)

PosOrdAthleteNOCDistanceR1R2R3R4R5R6
111Ulf TimmermannGDR22.4722.0221.3122.1621.9022.2922.47OR
27Randy BarnesUSA22.3920.1720.72×21.3121.0122.39OR
36Werner GünthörSUI21.9921.4521.5921.7020.9821.9921.61
49Udo BeyerGDR21.40×21.4020.8420.8221.3021.31
58Remigius MachuraTCH20.5720.5720.0320.1620.3620.1220.29
62Gert WeilCHI20.3820.2220.09×20.2320.2120.38
75Alessandro AndreiITA20.3619.7120.1720.0619.9320.3620.26
83Sergey SmirnovURS20.3620.11×20.36×××
910Gregg TafralisUSA20.1620.16××
1012Georg AndersenNOR19.91××19.91
114Jim DoehringUSA19.8919.27×19.89
121Helmut KriegerPOL19.51×19.51×