Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's shot put

Women's shot put at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Venue	Olympic Stadium
Date	6 August
Competitors	32 from 21 nations
Winning distance	20.70
Medalists
01 ! Valerie Adams  New Zealand 02 ! vacant 03 ! Gong Lijiao  China
← 2008 2016 →

01 !		Valerie Adams	New Zealand
02 !		vacant
03 !		Gong Lijiao	China

The Women's shot put competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom was held at the Olympic Stadium on 6 August.

Each athlete received three throws in the qualifying round. All who achieved the qualifying distance progressed to the final. If less than twelve athletes would achieve this mark, then the twelve furthest throwing athletes would reach the final. Each finalist was allowed three throws in last round, with the top eight athletes after that point being given three further attempts.

In the finals, Valerie Adams, the defending champion, took the lead in the first throw, but Nadzeya Ostapchuk, who was third in the 2008 Olympic competition, overtook the lead in the second throw and remained the leader until the end of the competition. Gong Lijiao remained third until the last throw, when she was overtaken by Yevgeniya Kolodko. The 2008 silver medalist, Natallia Mikhnevich, qualified for the final, but remained in last place.

On 13 August 2012, IOC announced that Nadzeya Ostapchuk had tested positive for metenolone both before and after winning the shot put event. She was formally expelled from the games and her victory and medal removed from the records. The gold medal was then awarded to Valerie Adams, the silver to Yevgeniya Kolodko, and the bronze to Gong Lijiao.

On 20 August 2016, the IOC announced Yevgeniya Kolodko, the Russian silver medalist, failed anti-doping test and her silver medal was stripped.

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

Prior to the competition^[update], the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

Qual. rule: qualification standard 18.90m (Q) or at least best 12 qualified (q).