Dame Valerie Kasanita Adams is a retired New Zealand shot putter. She is a four-time World champion, four-time World Indoor champion, two-time Olympic, three-time Commonwealth Games champion and twice IAAF Continental Cup winner. She has a personal best throw of 21.24 metres (69.7 ft) outdoors and 20.98 metres (68.8 ft) indoors. These marks are Oceanian, Commonwealth and New Zealand national records. She also holds the Oceanian junior record (18.93 m) and the Oceanian youth record (17.54 m), as well as the World Championships record, World Indoor Championships record and Commonwealth Games record.
Gong Lijiao is a Chinese Olympic shot putter and the 2020 Olympic champion in that event. A five-time Olympic player and a three-time Olympic medalist, she holds a record eight medals at the World Athletics Championships, including two World titles.
The Men's Shot Put event at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on August 15. The Olympic champion Tomasz Majewski entered the competition as the world-leading athlete and one of the favourites. Much was expected of the four-man United States team, consisting of defending champion Reese Hoffa, Olympic silver medalist Christian Cantwell, former world champion Adam Nelson, and newcomer Dan Taylor.
The women's shot put at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on August 16. Having set a world-leading and Oceanian record of 20.69 m in May, Valerie Vili was a strong favourite and defending champion. The seven best marks of the season all belonged to Vili, and only Anna Avdeyeva and Natallia Mikhnevich had thrown further than twenty metres that season. Former world champion Nadezhda Ostapchuk, Olympic medallist Nadine Kleinert and Gong Lijiao were other athletes who had a chance of reaching the podium.
The women's shot put competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom was held at the Olympic Stadium on 6 August.
The Women's shot put event at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Daegu Stadium on August 28 and 29. The winning margin was 1.22 metres which as of 2024 remains the only time the women's shot put has been won by more than 1.2 metres at these championships.
The Women's javelin throw event at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Daegu Stadium on September 1 and 2.
Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics were held during the last 10 days of the games, from 12 to 21 August 2016, at the Olympic Stadium. The sport of athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics was made into three distinct sets of events: track and field events, road running events, and racewalking events.
The women's shot put at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Luzhniki Stadium on 11–12 August.
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. Thirty-four athletes from 24 nations competed. The event was won by Ryan Crouser of the United States, the nation's first victory in the event since 2004. His teammate Joe Kovacs took silver. Tomas Walsh earned New Zealand's first medal in the men's shot put.
The women's 100 metres event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 12 and 13 August at the Olympic Stadium. The winning margin was 0.12 seconds. The winner, Elaine Thompson from Jamaica, had the second slowest reaction time in the final.
The women's hammer throw competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The event was held at the Olympic Stadium on 12–15 August. Each athlete received three throws in the qualifying round. All who achieved the qualifying distance progressed to the final. Each finalist was allowed three throws in last round, with the top eight athletes after that point being given three further attempts.
Gu Siyu is a Chinese track and field athlete who competes in the discus throw and formerly the shot put. She holds a discus personal best of 67.86 m and a shot put best of 16.59 m. She was a double Asian junior champion in 2010 and represented her country at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics.
The women's shot put at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Beijing National Stadium on 22 August.
The women's shot put at the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships took place on March 19, 2016.
The women's shot put at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on 8–9 August.
The women's shot put at the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships took place on 2 March 2018.
The women's shot put event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 30 July and 1 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium. Approximately 35 athletes are expected to compete; the exact number will depend on how many nations use universality places to enter athletes in addition to the 32 qualifying through distance or ranking.
The women's shot put at the 2019 World Athletics Championships was held at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, from 2 to 3 October 2019.
The women's shot put at the 2022 World Athletics Championships was held at the Hayward Field in Eugene on 15 and 16 July 2022.
