The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the shot—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival (1896), and women's competition began in 1948.
A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek ἑπτά and ἄθλος. A competitor in a heptathlon is referred to as a heptathlete.
The World Athletics Indoor Championships are a biennial indoor track and field competition served as the global championship for that version of the sport. Organised by the World Athletics, the competition was inaugurated as the World Indoor Games in 1985 in Paris, France and were subsequently renamed to IAAF World Indoor Championships in 1987. The current name was adapted with the name change of the sports governing body in 2019.
The World Athletics U20 Championships is a biennial world championships for the sport of athletics organised by the World Athletics, contested by athletes in the under-20 athletics age category (19 years old or younger on 31 December in the year of the competition.
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.
The women's shot put at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens was held on 18 August 2004 at the Ancient Olympia Stadium. It was originally planned to hold the discus throw at this venue, but it was discovered that the field was not large enough to accommodate the range of modern discus throwers, and would have posed a danger to spectators. As such, it was decided instead to hold the shot put at the site, despite the fact that the shot put was not contested at the Ancient Olympic Games. There were 38 competitors from 28 nations. After a series of doping-related disqualifications, the event was won by Yumileidi Cumba of Cuba, the nation's first medal in the event. All distances are given in metres.
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 women's shot put event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 16 August at the Beijing Olympic Stadium. The qualifying standards were 18.35 m and 17.20 m.
The women's shot put competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom was held at the Olympic Stadium on 6 August.
Aled Siôn Davies is a Welsh Paralympian athlete competing mainly in category F42 throwing events. In 2012 he became the world record holder of the F42 shot put and in the 2012 Summer Paralympics he took the bronze medal in shot put and gold in the discus. In 2013 Davies took the World Championship gold in both the shot put and discus in Lyon. He won double gold in his home country at the 2014 IPC Athletics European Championships in the shot put and discus. This followed his silver medal in the F42-44 discus from the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow where he represented Wales. Davies also took part in the Channel 4 TV series Celebrity SAS: Who dares wins
The women's shot put competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The event was held at the Olympic Stadium on 12 August. Each athlete receives three throws in the qualifying round. All who achieve the qualifying distance progress to the final. If less than twelve athletes achieve this mark, then the twelve furthest throwing athletes reach the final. Each finalist is allowed three throws in last round, with the top eight athletes after that point being given three further attempts.
Raven "Hulk" Saunders is an American track and field athlete who competes in the shot put and discus throw. They were the silver medalist in women's shot put at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, throwing a distance of 19.79 m. They won two NCAA collegiate titles at Southern Illinois University in the shot put, and two NCAA shot put titles for the University of Mississippi. They were a world junior silver medalist in 2014 and the Pan American junior champion in 2015. They hold a personal record of 19.96 m for the shot put. In 2023, they accepted an 18-month suspension from competition after missing three doping tests in one year.
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 Commonwealth Games, as part of the athletics programme, took place in the Carrara Stadium on 12 and 13 April 2018.
The women's shot put competition of the athletics events at the 2019 Pan American Games took place on the 9th of August at the 2019 Pan American Games Athletics Stadium. The defending Pan American Games champion is Cleopatra Borel from Trinidad and Tobago.
The women's heptathlon at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, as part of the athletics programme, took place in the Alexander Stadium on 2 and 3 August 2022.
The women's shot put at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, as part of the athletics programme, took place in the Alexander Stadium on 2 and 3 August 2022.
The women's shot put at the 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships was held at the Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero on 1 and 2 August.
The men's shot put at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, as part of the athletics programme, took place in the Alexander Stadium on 5 August 2022.
