Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's shot put

Men's shot put at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad
Left to right: Walsh, Kovacs, Crouser
Venue	Olympic Stadium
Date	18 August 2016
Competitors	34 from 24 nations
Winning distance	22.52 m OR
Medalists
01 ! Ryan Crouser  United States 02 ! Joe Kovacs  United States 03 ! Tomas Walsh  New Zealand
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01 !		Ryan Crouser	United States
02 !		Joe Kovacs	United States
03 !		Tomas Walsh	New Zealand

The men's shot put competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The event was held at the Olympic Stadium on 18 August.

In the final, the surprise find of the season Ryan Crouser set the tone with a 21.15 m on the first throw of the competition. Two throwers later, O'Dayne Richards also set his tone with a big first throw, but his foot went over the toe board. Two time defending champion Tomasz Majewski and his Polish teammate, two time world junior champion Konrad Bukowiecki also had foul trouble. Bukowiecki never got a legal throw in. On the fourth throw of the competition, the home crowd got a thrill as Darlan Romani threw the Brazilian National Record 21.02 m, beating the mark he set earlier in the morning. Two more throws later, Franck Elemba threw 21.20 m to take the lead and set the new national record for the Congo. On the tenth throw, the 2016 world leader Joe Kovacs threw 21.78 m to take over the lead at the end of the first round. Starting the second round, Crouser tossed 22.22 m, to not only take the lead but to become tied for the number 17 thrower in history. Near the end of the round, Tomas Walsh threw 21.20 m, to equal Elemba's distance, but with his second throw of 21.00 Elemba held the tiebreaker for bronze position. For his third round throw, Crouser improved his best to 22.26 m, to advance to become the number 14 thrower in history. After dropping off four competitors and changing the throwing order, Walsh moved into the bronze medal position with a 21.36 m in the fifth round. Then Crouser put the exclamation point on his night's work with a 22.52 m (73 ft 10 ¹⁄₂ in), beating Ulf Timmermann's Olympic Record from 1988; the days of East German doping dominance. It moved him into a tie for the number 10 thrower in history. Since 2004, only Kovacs has thrown farther.