Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics – Men's shot put

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Men's shot put
at the Games of the V Olympiad
Pat McDonald, Lawrence Whitney, Ralph Rose 1912.jpg
Left-right: Pat McDonald, Lawrence Whitney, Ralph Rose
Venue Stockholm Olympic Stadium
DateJuly 10, 1912
Competitors22 from 14 nations
Winning distance15.34 OR
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Pat McDonald
US flag 48 stars.svg  United States
Silver medal icon.svg Ralph Rose
US flag 48 stars.svg  United States
Bronze medal icon.svg Lawrence Whitney
US flag 48 stars.svg  United States
  1908
1920  
Pat McDonald on the way to winning the gold medal. 1912 Patrick McDonald.JPG
Pat McDonald on the way to winning the gold medal.

The men's shot put was a track and field athletics event held as part of the athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme. The competition was held on Wednesday, July 10, 1912. Twenty-two shot putters from 14 nations competed. [1] NOCs could enter up to 12 athletes. [2] The event was won by Pat McDonald of the United States, the nation's fifth consecutive victory in the men's shot put. The American team swept the top three places, the third time in five Games (1900, 1904). Ralph Rose took silver, 9 centimetres shy of a third gold medal; he became the first man to win three medals of any color (through the 2016 Games, matched only by Parry O'Brien).

Background

This was the fifth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Two-time Olympic champion Ralph Rose returned after competing in 1904 and 1908; other 1908 competitors that returned in 1912 were Michalis Dorizas of Greece, Charles Lagarde and André Tison of France, and Elmer Niklander of Finland. Rose had been dominant from 1904 through 1910, but countryman Pat McDonald had beaten him in the AAU championships in 1911 and 1912. The Olympic competition was expected to be a match between the two, with everyone else vying for third. [3]

Austria, Bohemia, Italy, Luxembourg, Russia, and Turkey made their debut in the men's shot put. Greece and the United States each appeared for the fifth time, having competed in all Olympic shot put competitions to date.

Competition format

The competition continued to use the two-round format used in 1900 and 1908, with results carrying over between rounds. Each athlete received three throws in the qualifying round. The top three men advanced to the final, where they received an additional three throws. The best result, qualifying or final, counted. [3] [4] [5]

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in metres) prior to the 1912 Summer Olympics.

World recordFlag of the United States.svg  Ralph Rose  (USA)15.54 San Francisco, United States 21 August 1909
Olympic recordUS flag 45 stars.svg  Ralph Rose  (USA)14.81 St. Louis, United States 31 August 1904

Schedule

DateTimeRound
Friday, 12 July 191214:00Qualifying
Final

Results

Ralph Rose, the two-time defending Olympic champion and holder of the Olympic record (14.81 metres, set at the 1904 Summer Olympics), was unseated by Pat McDonald after a colossal throw in the final. Rose bettered his own record with his first throw, coming just shy of 15 metres. With his third throw, Rose again topped himself, heaving the shot 15.25 metres while none of the other competitors had yet matched his first throw. At the end of the preliminaries, Rose's 15.25 stood well above McDonald's 14.78 metres and Lawrence Whitney's 13.93 metres.

Each of the three finalists received three more throws for the finals, but only two out of the combined 9 throws were legal marks. Whitney, who had scratched twice in the preliminaries, did so three more times to make his 13.93 metres the only legal throw of his 6. Rose's first throw in the finals was measured at 14.96 metres, giving him three throws that were better than the old record. McDonald, however, launched his first throw fully 15.34 metres to take the record and the gold medal after none of the three throwers could make a legal mark in their second or third throws.

RankAthleteNation123456DistanceNotes
Gold medal icon.svg Pat McDonald US flag 48 stars.svg  United States 14.5414.2714.7815.34 OR XX15.34 OR
Silver medal icon.svg Ralph Rose US flag 48 stars.svg  United States 14.98 OR 14.6815.25 OR 14.96XX15.25
Bronze medal icon.svg Lawrence Whitney US flag 48 stars.svg  United States XX13.93XXX13.93
4 Elmer Niklander Flag of Russia.svg  Finland 13.52X13.65Did not advance13.65
5 George Philbrook US flag 48 stars.svg  United States 12.8413.13XDid not advance13.13
6 Imre Mudin Flag of Hungary (1867-1918).svg  Hungary UnknownDid not advance12.81
7 Einar Nilsson Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 12.18X12.62Did not advance12.62
8 Patrick Quinn Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain UnknownDid not advance12.53
9 André Tison Flag of France.svg  France X11.7412.41Did not advance12.41
10 Paavo Aho Flag of Russia.svg  Finland UnknownDid not advance12.40
11 Michalis Dorizas Flag of Greece (1828-1978).svg  Greece UnknownDid not advance12.05
12 Aurelio Lenzi Flag of Italy (1861-1946).svg  Italy 10.5211.2511.57Did not advance11.57
13 Josef Schäffer Flag of the Habsburg Monarchy.svg  Austria 11.44XXDid not advance11.44
14 Karl Halt Flag of the German Empire.svg  Germany UnknownDid not advance11.16
15 František Janda-Suk Bohemian Olympic Flag (1912).svg  Bohemia UnknownDid not advance11.15
16 Raoul Paoli Flag of France.svg  France 9.8110.6111.11Did not advance11.11
17Marcel PelletierFlag of Luxembourg.svg  Luxembourg 10.6811.04XDid not advance11.04
18 Paul Willführ Flag of the German Empire.svg  Germany XX10.90Did not advance10.90
19 Mgirdiç Migiryan Flag of the Ottoman Empire.svg  Turkey 10.33X10.63Did not advance10.63
20 Ēriks Vanags Flag of Russia (1991-1993).svg  Russia XX10.44Did not advance10.44
21Arvīds Ozols-BernēFlag of Russia (1991-1993).svg  Russia X10.33XDid not advance10.33
22 Charles Lagarde Flag of France.svg  France 9.41XXDid not advance9.41

References

  1. "Athletics at the 1912 Stockholm Summer Games: Men's Shot Put". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  2. Official report, p. 61.
  3. 1 2 "Shot Put, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  4. Official Report, p. 90.
  5. Official Report, p. 407.

Sources