Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's shot put
The men's shot put competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom was held at the Olympic Stadium on 3 August. Each athlete receives three throws in the qualifying round. All who achieve the qualifying distance progress to the final. If less than twelve athletes achieve this mark, then the twelve furthest throwing athletes reach the final. Each finalist is allowed three throws in last round, with the top eight athletes after that point being given three further attempts.
In the qualification rounds, the first athletics event of the Olympics, the athletes with the best credentials coming in; Reese Hoffa, David Storl and Tomasz Majewski placed themselves in the favorite role, by tossing an automatic qualifier on their first attempt. Ryan Whiting and German Lauro had to take all three attempts to make their automatic qualifier, Lauro's becoming the new National Record for Argentina. It took 20.25 to make it to the finals, held in the evening.
The results of the first preliminary round foretold the final results. Those three athletes led from the first round, with Storl literally flexing his muscles in the ring as he took the early lead, then improving his position slightly in the second round. Lauro added 7 cm to the national record he had set in the morning in the second round and another 2 cm in the third, but in the end that was only good enough for sixth place. Majewski edged into the lead with his third attempt, while Hoffa made his best attempt in the fourth round. Christian Cantwell came within 4 cm of grabbing the bronze medal from his American teammate in the final round, then Majewski put a cap on his victory with the best throw in the competition 21.89 on the final throw. Majewski is the first to repeat as champion since Parry O'Brien in 1956, with Ralph Rose from 1908 the only other, and the first non-American to do that.
Schedule
All times are British Summer Time| Date | Time | Round |
| Friday, 3 August 2012 | 10:00 20:30 | Qualifications Finals |
Records
, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.| World record | 23.12 m | Los Angeles, United States | 20 May 1990 | |
| Olympic record | 22.47 m | Seoul, South Korea | 23 September 1988 | |
| 2012 World leading | 22.31 m | Champaign, United States | 7 July 2012 |
The following National record were set during this competition.
| Argentina National Record | 20.84m |
Results
Qualifying round
Qual. rule: qualification standard 20.65m or at least best 12 qualified.| Rank | Group | Name | Nationality | #1 | #2 | #3 | Result | Notes |
| 1 | B | Reese Hoffa | 21.36 | 21.36 | Q | |||
| 2 | A | David Storl | 21.15 | 21.15 | Q | |||
| 3 | A | Tomasz Majewski | 21.03 | 21.03 | Q | |||
| 4 | B | Ryan Whiting | 20.29 | 20.25 | 20.78 | 20.78 | Q | |
| 5 | A | Germán Lauro | 20.10 | x | 20.75 | 20.75 | Q, NR | |
| 6 | A | Pavel Lyzhyn | 19.85 | 20.10 | 20.57 | 20.57 | q | |
| 7 | B | Dylan Armstrong | 19.99 | x | 20.49 | 20.49 | q | |
| 8 | B | Asmir Kolašinac | 20.44 | – | – | 20.44 | q | |
| 9 | A | Christian Cantwell | 20.41 | 20.30 | 19.88 | 20.41 | q | |
| 10 | B | Maksim Sidorov | x | 19.59 | 20.40 | 20.40 | q | |
| 11 | A | Dorian Scott | 20.18 | 20.30 | 20.31 | 20.31 | q | |
| 12 | B | Chang Ming-Huang | 19.14 | x | 20.25 | 20.25 | q | |
| 13 | A | Soslan Tsirikhov | 19.25 | 19.78 | 20.17 | 20.17 | ||
| 14 | A | Rutger Smith | 20.08 | x | 19.55 | 20.08 | ||
| 15 | A | Marco Fortes | 19.59 | 20.06 | 19.50 | 20.06 | ||
| 16 | B | Ralf Bartels | x | 20.00 | 19.89 | 20.00 | ||
| 17 | B | Nedžad Mulabegović | 19.18 | 19.86 | 19.72 | 19.86 | ||
| 18 | B | Om Prakash Singh | 19.40 | 19.86 | x | 19.86 | ||
| 19 | B | Hüseyin Atıcı | 19.47 | 19.49 | 19.74 | 19.74 | ||
| 20 | A | Lajos Kürthy | 19.65 | x | x | 19.65 | ||
| 21 | A | Georgi Ivanov | 19.42 | 19.40 | 19.63 | 19.63 | ||
| 22 | B | Antonín Žalský | x | 19.62 | 19.49 | 19.62 | ||
| 23 | A | Kemal Mešić | 19.49 | x | 19.60 | 19.60 | ||
| 24 | A | Mihail Stamatoyiannis | 18.67 | x | 19.24 | 19.24 | ||
| 25 | A | Dale Stevenson | 18.38 | 19.17 | 19.01 | 19.17 | ||
| 26 | A | Māris Urtāns | 18.92 | 19.13 | x | 19.13 | ||
| 27 | B | Kim Christensen | 18.40 | x | 19.13 | 19.13 | ||
| 28 | B | Carl Myerscough | 18.75 | 18.95 | x | 18.95 | ||
| 29 | B | Raigo Toompuu | 18.87 | 18.91 | x | 18.91 | ||
| 30 | A | Borja Vivas | 18.46 | x | 18.88 | 18.88 | ||
| 31 | A | Stephen Saenz | x | 18.65 | x | 18.65 | ||
| 32 | B | Amin Nikfar | 18.62 | x | x | 18.62 | ||
| 33 | B | Carlos Véliz | 18.26 | x | 18.57 | 18.57 | ||
| 34 | B | Emanuele Fuamatu | 17.78 | x | x | 17.78 | ||
| 35 | A | Odinn Bjorn Thorsteinsson | x | 17.04 | 17.62 | 17.62 | ||
| 36 | A | Adriatik Hoxha | 17.58 | x | 17.13 | 17.58 | ||
| A | Justin Rodhe | x | x | x | NM | |||
| B | Zhang Jun | x | x | x | NM | |||
| B | Andriy Semenov | x | x | x | NM | |||
| B | DQ |