| Host City: Seoul, South Korea |
Format: Top 12 and ties and all those reaching 20.20 metres advanced to the final. |
| Date Started: September 23, 1988 |
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| Date Finished: September 23, 1988 |
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| (Competitors: 21; Countries: 17; Finalists: 12) |
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Venue(s): Olympic Stadium, Seoul Sports Complex, Seoul
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| Overview by IAAF |
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| This was possibly the best shot competition ever, and one of the greatest Olympic battles in history. Timmermann, the athletic (1.94/108Kg) GDR thrower was favourite to win ahead of World Champion Günthör. Timmermann led the qualifiers with 21.27. After Günthör reached an Olympic record 21.45 in the first round of the final, the East German stamped his authority on the event with a massive 22.02. Udo Beyer moved into third with 21.40 in the second round, with Randy Barnes lagging behind the top three at 20.72. Günthör, recovering from a back injury, then threw 21.70 and Timmermann increased his lead with 22.16. Barnes spun the 16 pound ball out to 21.31 in round 4, but remained in fourth place. Günthör and Timmermann improved further in the penultimate round with 21.99 and 22.29 respectively. Barnes now had one chance left.“I decided to get reckless, ” he said later. He powered the shot out to 22.39, the fifth Olympic record of the competition. Timmermann came up for the last throw of the competition. “I could make my place in Olympic history, ” he said. His throw flew out to 22.47 and his fourteenth win of an unbeaten season. |
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| Summary by Sports-reference.com |
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| 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). |
Records
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Results |
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| Shot Put |
Men |
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Final |
23 September |
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| Rank |
Mark |
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Athlete |
Country |
NOC |
Birth Date |
Records |
| 1 |
22.47 |
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Ulf Timmermann |
East Germany |
GDR |
1 Nov 62 |
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| 2 |
22.39 |
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Randy Barnes |
United States |
USA |
16 Jun 66 |
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| 3 |
21.99 |
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Werner Günthör |
Switzerland |
SUI |
1 Jun 61 |
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| 4 |
21.40 |
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Udo Beyer |
East Germany |
GDR |
9 Aug 55 |
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| 5 |
20.57 |
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Remigius Machura |
Czechoslovakia |
TCH |
3 Jul 60 |
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| 6 |
20.38 |
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Gert Weil |
Chile |
CHI |
3 Jan 60 |
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| 7 |
20.36 |
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Alessandro Andrei |
Italy |
ITA |
3 Jan 59 |
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| 8 |
20.36 |
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Sergey Smirnov |
Soviet Union |
URS |
17 Sep 60 |
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| 9 |
20.16 |
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Gregg Tafralis |
United States |
USA |
9 Apr 58 |
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| 10 |
19.91 |
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Georg Andersen |
Norway |
NOR |
7 Jan 63 |
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| 11 |
19.89 |
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Jim Doehring |
United States |
USA |
27 Jan 62 |
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| 12 |
19.51 |
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Helmut Krieger |
Poland |
POL |
17 Jul 58 |
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| Shot Put |
Men |
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Qualification |
23 September |
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| Rank |
Mark |
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Athlete |
Country |
NOC |
Birth Date |
Records |
| 1 |
21.27 |
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Ulf Timmermann |
East Germany |
GDR |
1 Nov 62 |
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| 2 |
20.97 |
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Udo Beyer |
East Germany |
GDR |
9 Aug 55 |
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| 3 |
20.83 |
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Randy Barnes |
United States |
USA |
16 Jun 66 |
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| 4 |
20.70 |
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Werner Günthör |
Switzerland |
SUI |
1 Jun 61 |
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| 5 |
20.48 |
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Sergey Smirnov |
Soviet Union |
URS |
17 Sep 60 |
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| 6 |
20.18 |
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Alessandro Andrei |
Italy |
ITA |
3 Jan 59 |
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| 7 |
20.18 |
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Gert Weil |
Chile |
CHI |
3 Jan 60 |
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| 8 |
20.16 |
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Remigius Machura |
Czechoslovakia |
TCH |
3 Jul 60 |
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| 9 |
20.05 |
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Georg Andersen |
Norway |
NOR |
7 Jan 63 |
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| 10 |
19.75 |
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Helmut Krieger |
Poland |
POL |
17 Jul 58 |
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| 11 |
19.73 |
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Jim Doehring |
United States |
USA |
27 Jan 62 |
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| 12 |
19.71 |
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Gregg Tafralis |
United States |
USA |
9 Apr 58 |
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| 13 |
19.68 |
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Georgi Yanev Todorov |
Bulgaria |
BUL |
7 Mar 60 |
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| 14 |
19.21 |
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Pétur Gudmundsson |
Iceland |
ISL |
24 Jan 62 |
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| 15 |
18.94 |
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Ahmed Mohamed Accouche |
Egypt |
EGY |
18 Nov 55 |
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| 16 |
18.89 |
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Klaus Bodenmüller |
Austria |
AUT |
6 Sep 62 |
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| 17 |
18.27 |
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Ma Yongfeng |
China |
CHN |
29 Nov 62 |
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| 18 |
17.61 |
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Ahmed Kamel Shatta |
Egypt |
EGY |
23 Jan 61 |
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| 19 |
17.28 |
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Paul Edwards |
Great Britain |
GBR |
16 Feb 59 |
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| 20 |
15.92 |
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Mohamed Al-Zankawi |
Kuwait |
KUW |
7 Oct 53 |
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| 21 |
15.68 |
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Han Min-Soo |
South Korea |
KOR |
24 Mar 63 |
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Qualifying round
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