# Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's discus throw

The men's discus throw was an event at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. There were 40 competitors from 30 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was held on July 31, 1996. The event was won by Lars Riedel of Germany, the nation's first victory in the men's discus throw (though both East and West Germany had previously won). Belarus won two medals in its debut, with Vladimir Dubrovshchik earning silver and Vasiliy Kaptyukh taking bronze.

## Background

This was the 23rd appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The returning finalists from the 1992 Games were silver medalist (and 1988 gold medalist Jürgen Schult of Germany, bronze medalist Roberto Moya of Cuba, fourth-place finisher Costel Grasu of Romania, fifth-place finisher Attila Horváth of Hungary, ninth-place finisher David Martínez of Spain, eleventh-place finisher Vésteinn Hafsteinsson of Iceland, and twelfth-place finisher Anthony Washington of the United States. Lars Riedel of Germany, who had not made the final in 1992, had won the last three world championships (and would win, take third place, and win again in the next three).
Belarus, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Mongolia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan each made their debut in the men's discus throw. The United States made its 22nd appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

## Competition format

The competition used the two-round format introduced in 1936, with the qualifying round completely separate from the divided final. In qualifying, each athlete received three attempts; those recording a mark of at least 62.50 metres advanced to the final. If fewer than 12 athletes achieved that distance, the top 12 would advance. The results of the qualifying round were then ignored. Finalists received three throws each, with the top eight competitors receiving an additional three attempts. The best distance among those six throws counted.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Jürgen Schult (GDR) | 74.08 | Neubrandenburg, East Germany | 6 June 1986 |
| Olympic record | Jürgen Schult (GDR) | 68.82 | Seoul, South Korea | 1 October 1988 |
Lars Riedel's fifth and sixth throws in the final both exceeded the old record, reaching 69.40 metres and 69.24 metres.

## Schedule

All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Monday, 29 July 1996 | 9:30 | Qualifying |
| Wednesday, 31 July 1996 | 19:33 | Final |

## Results
### Qualifying

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | 1 | 2 | 3 | Distance | Notes |
| 1 | Lars Riedel | Germany | 64.66 | — | — | 64.66 | Q |
| 2 | Virgilijus Alekna | Lithuania | 64.50 | — | — | 64.50 | Q |
| 3 | Anthony Washington | United States | 63.66 | — | — | 63.66 | Q |
| 4 | Vitaliy Sidorov | Ukraine | X | 57.60 | 63.42 | 63.42 | Q |
| 5 | Vladimir Dubrovshchik | Belarus | 63.22 | — | — | 63.22 | Q |
| 6 | Attila Horváth | Hungary | 58.94 | 62.90 | — | 62.90 | Q |
| 7 | Vaclavas Kidykas | Lithuania | 59.64 | 62.74 | — | 62.74 | Q |
| 8 | Jürgen Schult | Germany | 62.58 | — | — | 62.58 | Q |
| 9 | Sergey Lyakhov | Russia | 59.62 | 62.42 | — | 62.42 | q |
| 10 | Adam Setliff | United States | 62.36 | 58.42 | 60.06 | 62.36 | q |
| 11 | Alexis Elizalde | Cuba | 60.98 | 62.22 | 61.44 | 62.22 | q |
| 12 | Vasiliy Kaptyukh | Belarus | 57.28 | 61.14 | 62.22 | 62.22 | q |
| 13 | Nick Sweeney | Ireland | 58.82 | 62.04 | 61.06 | 62.04 | |
| 14 | John Godina | United States | 61.82 | 59.88 | 57.46 | 61.82 | |
| 15 | Bob Weir | Great Britain | 61.64 | 60.54 | X | 61.64 | |
| 16 | Ramón Jiménez Gaona | Paraguay | 58.18 | 61.36 | X | 61.36 | |
| 17 | Adewale Olukoju | Nigeria | X | 60.98 | 59.32 | 60.98 | |
| 18 | Li Shaojie | China | 58.54 | 60.06 | 60.20 | 60.20 | |
| 19 | Diego Fortuna | Italy | 57.78 | 59.30 | 60.08 | 60.08 | |
| 20 | Marek Bilek | Czech Republic | 59.86 | 58.42 | 58.62 | 59.86 | |
| 21 | Svein Inge Valvik | Norway | 59.34 | 58.34 | 59.60 | 59.60 | |
| 22 | Roberto Moya | Cuba | 59.22 | 57.60 | X | 59.22 | |
| 23 | Dashdendev Makhashiri | Mongolia | 59.16 | 54.18 | X | 59.16 | |
| 24 | Igor Primc | Slovenia | 59.12 | 56.40 | 57.62 | 59.12 | |
| 25 | Aleksander Tammert | Estonia | 58.84 | X | 59.04 | 59.04 | |
| 26 | Costel Grasu | Romania | 58.30 | X | 58.56 | 58.56 | |
| 27 | Dragan Mustapić | Croatia | X | 57.94 | 56.62 | 57.94 | |
| 28 | Andriy Kokhanovsky | Ukraine | 57.90 | X | X | 57.90 | |
| 29 | Marcelo Pugliese | Argentina | 56.72 | X | X | 56.72 | |
| 30 | Shakti Singh | India | 53.72 | 56.58 | 54.30 | 56.58 | |
| 31 | Aleksandr Borichevskiy | Russia | X | 56.46 | 55.18 | 56.46 | |
| 32 | Vésteinn Hafsteinsson | Iceland | 53.94 | 52.14 | 56.30 | 56.30 | |
| 33 | Jason Tunks | Canada | X | X | 55.58 | 55.58 | |
| 34 | Mickaël Conjungo | Central African Republic | X | X | 55.34 | 55.34 | |
| 35 | Michael Möllenbeck | Germany | X | 55.18 | 55.06 | 55.18 | |
| 36 | Glen Smith | Great Britain | 54.88 | X | X | 54.88 | |
| 37 | Roman Poltoratsky | Uzbekistan | X | X | 51.96 | 51.96 | |
| 38 | Jaroslav Žitňanský | Slovakia | X | 50.94 | 51.50 | 51.50 | |
| 39 | Chris Sua'mene | Western Samoa | 49.22 | 51.28 | 50.24 | 51.28 | |
| — | David Martínez | Spain | X | X | X | No mark |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Distance | Notes |
| | Lars Riedel | Germany | X | X | 65.40 | 63.10 | 69.40 OR | 69.24 | 69.40 | OR |
| | Vladimir Dubrovshchik | Belarus | 64.86 | 66.60 | 64.38 | 59.68 | X | X | 66.60 | |
| | Vasiliy Kaptyukh | Belarus | 63.24 | 64.00 | 65.80 | X | 63.82 | 65.08 | 65.80 | |
| 4 | Anthony Washington | United States | 65.42 | X | X | 61.34 | X | 62.50 | 65.42 | |
| 5 | Virgilijus Alekna | Lithuania | 62.28 | 65.30 | 64.50 | X | 64.54 | 63.74 | 65.30 | |
| 6 | Jürgen Schult | Germany | 62.82 | 64.42 | 62.62 | 64.62 | 64.38 | 63.78 | 64.62 | |
| 7 | Vitaliy Sidorov | Ukraine | 63.44 | X | X | 62.76 | 63.78 | 62.82 | 63.78 | |
| 8 | Vaclavas Kidykas | Lithuania | 61.48 | 57.52 | 62.78 | X | 61.68 | 61.88 | 62.78 | |
| 9 | Alexis Elizalde | Cuba | 60.52 | 60.36 | 62.70 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | 62.70 | |
| 10 | Attila Horváth | Hungary | 60.66 | 62.28 | 59.72 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | 62.28 | |
| 11 | Sergey Lyakhov | Russia | 60.62 | 59.90 | X | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | 60.62 | |
| 12 | Adam Setliff | United States | X | 56.30 | X | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | 56.30 | |