Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's discus throw

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Women's discus throw
at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Olympic Athletics.png
Olympic Athletics
Venue Japan National Stadium
Dates31 July 2021 (qualifying)
2 August 2021 (final)
Competitors31 from 19 nations
Winning distance68.98m
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Valarie Allman Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Silver medal icon.svg Kristin Pudenz Flag of Germany.svg  Germany
Bronze medal icon.svg Yaime Pérez Flag of Cuba (3-2).svg  Cuba
  2016
2024  

The women's discus throw event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 31 July and 2 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium, with 31 athletes competing.

Summary

Sandra Perković came in as the two time defending Olympic Champion. Her personal best 71.41m is the best throw in almost 30 years. Yaime Pérez was the 2019 World Champion, when Perković "only" got bronze. Jorinde van Klinken had the longest throw of the year at 70.22m. Valarie Allman had the second best, those two the only entrants over 70 metres in the previous two years, Allman over 70 in both years.

Allman was the only first throw automatic qualifier for the final, Kamalpreet Kaur getting the mark exactly on her third and last attempt. It took 61.52m to get into the final. van Klinken did not qualify.

8 throws into the final, Kristin Pudenz was the first thrower over 63 metres at 63.07m. Two throws later, Pérez got 65.72m to take the lead. That lasted long enough for Allman to take her first throw, capped with a pirouette, the former dancer launched it 68.98 m (226 ft 3 in). Pérez was the only other athlete in the final who had thrown that far in the last two years, and only by 1 cm. In the second round, Liliana Cá moved into bronze position with a 63.93m. On her second attempt, Pudenz moved back into medals with a 65.34m. By the time Pérez was up for her second attempt, the rain was becoming a factor. The ring was so slippery, Allman slipped out of the ring, her throw called a foul. The next thrower, Marike Steinacker skidded across the wet ring before even completing her spin. The event was stopped for 2 minutes while someone tried to dry the ring with a towel. They called the next thrower Yang Chen who slipped and threw her discus into the cage awkwardly. They called Cá who slipped and fell on all four before her first spin. More people with towels and brooms were dispatched to try to dry the ring, still in pouring rain. The athletes looked for dry places while the crew put plastic over the ring and new forms of squeegees and drying devices were employed. After about 20 minutes the athletes were released to go wait under the stadium. Another ten minutes went by as the rain began to decrease. A crew of close to 20 people tried to dry the ring and surrounding area. 40 minutes after the last throw, the athletes were brought back to the competition area where they began warming up.

After a 45 minute break, competition resumed. Allman, Steinacker, Yang and Cá were awarded new throws. As the first thrower back, Allman was tentative, hew throw going vertical as much as horizontal. She voluntarily took a foul. Steinacker was able to get a 62.02 which turned out to be enough to get her into the final three throws. In the delayed third round, Perković got 65.01m, not enough for medals but in a threatening position. And Kaur was able to get into the final 8.

That final eight was marred by fouls, 14 out of 24 throws. Only Pudenz was able to improve to 66.86m, which secured her hold on silver but didn't challenge Allman's first round throw. Essentially the medal positions proved to be established in the first round and a half, before the rain. And it proved to be the United States' first gold medal of the track program. [1] [2]

Background

This will be the 22nd appearance of the event, having appeared at every Summer Olympics since women's athletics was introduced in 1928.

Qualification

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the women's discus throw event if all athletes meet the entry standard or qualify by ranking during the qualifying period. (The limit of 3 has been in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress.) The qualifying standard is 63.50 metres. This standard was "set for the sole purpose of qualifying athletes with exceptional performances unable to qualify through the IAAF World Rankings pathway." The world rankings, based on the average of the best five results for the athlete over the qualifying period and weighted by the importance of the meet, will then be used to qualify athletes until the cap of 32 is reached. [3] [4]

The qualifying period was originally from 1 May 2019 to 29 June 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the period was suspended from 6 April 2020 to 30 November 2020, with the end date extended to 29 June 2021. The world rankings period start date was also changed from 1 May 2019 to 30 June 2020; athletes who had met the qualifying standard during that time were still qualified, but those using world rankings would not be able to count performances during that time. The qualifying time standards could be obtained in various meets during the given period that have the approval of the IAAF. Both outdoor and indoor meets are eligible. The most recent Area Championships may be counted in the ranking, even if not during the qualifying period. [3] [5]

NOCs can also use their universality place—each NOC can enter one female athlete regardless of time if they had no female athletes meeting the entry standard for an athletics event—in the discus throw. [3]

Competition format

The 2020 competition will continue to use the two-round format with divided final introduced in 1936. The qualifying round gives each competitor three throws to achieve a qualifying distance (64.00 metres); if fewer than 12 women do so, the top 12 will advance. The final provides each thrower with three throws; the top eight throwers receive an additional three throws for a total of six, with the best to count (qualifying round throws are not considered for the final). [6]

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world, Olympic, and area records are as follows.

World recordFlag of East Germany.svg  Gabriele Reinsch  (GDR)76.80 Neubrandenburg, East Germany 9 July 1988
Olympic recordFlag of East Germany.svg  Martina Hellmann  (GDR)72.30 Seoul, South Korea 29 September 1988
AreaDistance (m)AthleteNation
Africa ( records )64.87 Elizna Naudé Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa
Asia ( records )71.68 Xiao Yanling Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China
Europe ( records )76.80 WR Gabriele Reinsch Flag of East Germany.svg East Germany
North, Central America
and Caribbean
( records )
70.88 Hilda Elisa Ramos Flag of Cuba.svg Cuba
Oceania ( records )69.64 Dani Stevens Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia
South America ( records )65.34 Andressa de Morais Flag of Brazil.svg Brazil

Schedule

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

The women's discus took place over two separate days. [7]

DateTimeRound
Saturday, 31 July 20219:30Qualifying
Monday, 2 August 202120:00Final

Results

Qualifying

Qualification Rules: Qualifying performance 64.00 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) advance to the Final.

RankGroupAthleteNation123DistanceNotes
1B Valarie Allman Flag of the United States.svg  United States 66.4266.42 Q
2B Kamalpreet Kaur Flag of India.svg  India 60.2963.9764.0064.00 Q
3A Sandra Perković Civil ensign of Croatia.svg  Croatia 63.75xx63.75 q
4A Kristin Pudenz Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 63.53x63.7363.73 q
5B Daisy Osakue Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 52.2663.66x63.66 q, =NR
6B Marike Steinacker Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 63.22xx63.22 q
7B Yaime Pérez Flag of Cuba (3-2).svg  Cuba 62.9063.1859.9763.18 q
8B Liliana Cá Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal 57.7062.85x62.85 q
9B Chen Yang Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 62.5961.5762.7262.72 q
10B Claudine Vita Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 62.3962.4662.3862.46 q
11A Shadae Lawrence Flag of Jamaica.svg  Jamaica 59.5562.27x62.27 q
12B Izabela da Silva Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 56.1461.5260.6461.52 q
13B Marija Tolj Civil ensign of Croatia.svg  Croatia 54.7661.4860.3361.48
14A Jorinde van Klinken Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands x61.15x61.15
15A Mélina Robert-Michon Flag of France.svg  France x60.8859.8160.88
16A Seema Punia Flag of India.svg  India x60.5758.9360.57
17B Feng Bin Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 59.2660.45x60.45
18B Subenrat Insaeng Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand 54.9959.2356.8259.23 SB
19A Chrysoula Anagnostopoulou Flag of Greece.svg  Greece 57.0659.1858.5559.18
20A Su Xinyue Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 55.3758.9057.8558.90
20B Andressa de Morais Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil xx58.9058.90
22B Dani Stevens Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 53.0158.7754.6058.77
23A Denia Caballero Flag of Cuba (3-2).svg  Cuba x57.96x57.96
24A Fernanda Martins Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil x57.90x57.90
25A Irina Rodrigues Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal x54.6057.0357.03
26B Dragana Tomašević Flag of Serbia.svg  Serbia 55.9756.9556.4356.95
27A Rachel Dincoff Flag of the United States.svg  United States 55.10x56.2256.22
28A Kelsey Card Flag of the United States.svg  United States 54.8555.7856.0456.04
29B Karen Gallardo Flag of Chile.svg  Chile 55.3653.8955.8155.81
30A Alexandra Emilianov Flag of Moldova (3-2).svg  Moldova 54.57xx54.57
31A Nataliya Semenova Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine xx54.2854.28

Final

RankAthleteNation123456DistanceNotes
Gold medal icon.svg Valarie Allman Flag of the United States.svg  United States 68.98xx64.7666.78x68.98
Silver medal icon.svg Kristin Pudenz Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 63.0765.3464.35x66.86x66.86 PB
Bronze medal icon.svg Yaime Pérez Flag of Cuba (3-2).svg  Cuba 65.7262.1663.2065.20xx65.72
4 Sandra Perković Civil ensign of Croatia.svg  Croatia 62.53x65.01xx63.2565.01
5 Liliana Cá Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal 62.3163.93xxx63.93
6 Kamalpreet Kaur Flag of India.svg  India 61.62x63.70x61.37x63.70
7 Shadae Lawrence Flag of Jamaica.svg  Jamaica 60.2262.1258.9859.4659.26x62.12
8 Marike Steinacker Flag of Germany.svg  Germany x62.02xx60.1060.3262.02
9 Claudine Vita Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 60.70x61.80did not advance61.80
10 Chen Yang Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 61.5759.5961.43did not advance61.57
11 Izabela da Silva Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 60.39x59.56did not advance60.39
12 Daisy Osakue Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 59.97xxdid not advance59.97

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