# Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's discus throw

38°2′10.1″N 23°47′15.1″E﻿ / ﻿38.036139°N 23.787528°E﻿ / 38.036139; 23.787528
The women's discus throw competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens was held at the Olympic Stadium on 20–21 August. It was originally planned to hold the discus throw at the Ancient Olympia Stadium, 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 to move the discus throw and to hold the shot put at the ancient stadium, despite the fact that the shot put was not contested at the Ancient Olympic Games.
On December 5, 2012, Belarusian discus thrower Iryna Yatchenko was stripped of her bronze medal after drug re-testings of her samples on methandienone had been discovered positive. Following the announcement of Yatchenko's disqualification, the International Olympic Committee Executive Board had distributed and awarded the bronze to Czech Republic's Věra Pospíšilová-Cechlová, who originally finished fourth in the final.

## Competition format

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.

## Schedule

All times are Greece Standard Time (UTC+2)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Friday, 20 August 2004 | 21:30 | Qualification |
| Saturday, 21 August 2004 | 21:10 | Final |

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Gabriele Reinsch (GDR) | 76.80 m | Neubrandenburg, East Germany | 9 July 1988 |
| Olympic record | Martina Hellmann (GDR) | 72.30 m | Seoul, South Korea | 29 September 1988 |
No new records were set during the competition.

## Results
### Qualifying round

Rule: Qualifying standard 62.50 (Q) or at least best 12 qualified (q).
| Rank | Group | Name | Nationality | #1 | #2 | #3 | Result | Notes |
| 1 | A | Věra Pospíšilová-Cechlová | Czech Republic | 64.48 | — | — | 64.48 | Q |
| 2 | A | Natalya Sadova | Russia | 64.33 | — | — | 64.33 | Q |
| 3 | B | Olena Antonova | Ukraine | 62.15 | 64.20 | — | 64.20 | Q |
| 4 | B | Anastasia Kelesidou | Greece | 64.13 | — | — | 64.13 | Q |
| 5 | A | Beatrice Faumuina | New Zealand | 64.07 | — | — | 64.07 | Q |
| 6 | A | Ekaterini Voggoli | Greece | 63.39 | — | — | 63.39 | Q |
| 7 | B | Iryna Yatchenko | Belarus | 62.15 | 63.04 | — | 63.04 | Q |
| 8 | A | Nicoleta Grasu | Romania | 59.87 | 60.89 | 61.91 | 61.91 | q |
| 9 | B | Styliani Tsikouna | Greece | 61.72 | 60.17 | 60.67 | 61.72 | q |
| 10 | B | Yania Ferrales | Cuba | x | 56.46 | 61.54 | 61.54 | q |
| 11 | A | Joanna Wiśniewska | Poland | 61.48 | 56.11 | 58.43 | 61.48 | q |
| 12 | B | Li Yanfeng | China | 61.19 | 61.35 | 61.24 | 61.35 | q |
| 13 | A | Harwant Kaur | India | 60.82 | 59.20 | 59.95 | 60.82 | |
| 14 | B | Seema Antil | India | 59.93 | 60.64 | 58.41 | 60.64 | |
| 15 | A | Ellina Zvereva | Belarus | 60.35 | x | 60.63 | 60.63 | |
| 16 | B | Wioletta Potępa | Poland | 60.50 | x | 57.99 | 60.50 | |
| 17 | B | Neelam Jaswant Singh | India | 60.26 | 57.25 | 60.10 | 60.26 | |
| 18 | A | Philippa Roles | Great Britain | 57.30 | 58.83 | x | 58.83 | |
| 19 | B | Aretha Hill | United States | 52.93 | 58.82 | x | 58.82 | |
| 20 | B | Elizna Naudé | South Africa | 58.74 | 58.26 | 58.32 | 58.74 | |
| 21 | A | Olga Chernyavskaya | Russia | 58.64 | 58.19 | 58.55 | 58.64 | |
| 22 | A | Stephanie Brown | United States | x | 58.54 | x | 58.54 | |
| 23 | B | Teresa Machado | Portugal | 58.47 | 57.00 | 57.65 | 58.47 | |
| 24 | A | Natalya Fokina | Ukraine | 58.28 | 56.84 | 55.64 | 58.28 | |
| 25 | B | Song Aimin | China | 58.19 | 58.03 | x | 58.19 | |
| 26 | A | Elisângela Adriano | Brazil | x | 58.13 | x | 58.13 | |
| 27 | A | Franka Dietzsch | Germany | x | 57.57 | 58.12 | 58.12 | |
| 28 | B | Dace Ruskule | Latvia | 54.49 | 57.43 | x | 57.43 | |
| 29 | A | Vera Begić | Croatia | x | 54.80 | 57.31 | 57.31 | |
| 30 | B | Oksana Yesipchuk | Russia | x | 57.27 | 57.18 | 57.27 | |
| 31 | A | Mélina Robert-Michon | France | 56.70 | x | 56.53 | 56.70 | |
| 32 | A | Huang Qun | China | 56.53 | x | 55.06 | 56.53 | |
| 33 | B | Shelley Newman | Great Britain | x | 54.04 | 56.04 | 56.04 | |
| 34 | B | Vladimíra Racková | Czech Republic | 55.82 | x | 55.36 | 55.82 | |
| 35 | A | Anna Söderberg | Sweden | 54.04 | 55.49 | 51.24 | 55.49 | |
| 36 | B | Alice Matejková | Spain | 54.15 | x | 55.37 | 55.37 | |
| 37 | B | Eha Rünne | Estonia | 54.28 | x | 54.82 | 54.82 | |
| 38 | B | Dragana Tomašević | Serbia and Montenegro | 51.71 | x | 54.44 | 54.44 | |
| 39 | A | Éva Kürti | Hungary | 52.52 | 50.85 | x | 52.52 | |
| 40 | A | Tereapii Tapoki | Cook Islands | 47.59 | 48.12 | x | 48.12 | |
| 41 | A | Tsvetanka Khristova | Bulgaria | 43.25 | x | x | 43.25 | |
| | B | Seilala Sua | United States | x | x | x | NM | |

### Final

| Rank | Name | Nationality | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Result | Notes |
| | Natalya Sadova | Russia | 64.78 | 64.81 | x | 65.33 | 67.02 | 66.68 | 67.02 | |
| | Anastasia Kelesidou | Greece | 62.77 | x | 66.68 | 63.71 | 66.09 | 61.59 | 66.68 | |
| | Věra Pospíšilová-Cechlová | Czech Republic | 63.02 | 66.08 | x | 62.81 | 63.21 | 64.84 | 66.08 | |
| 4 | Olena Antonova | Ukraine | 59.88 | 64.11 | x | 63.61 | 60.37 | 65.75 | 65.75 | |
| 5 | Nicoleta Grasu | Romania | 62.01 | 62.21 | 63.48 | 61.58 | 61.93 | 64.92 | 64.92 | SB |
| 6 | Beatrice Faumuina | New Zealand | x | 62.45 | x | 63.45 | 62.99 | x | 63.45 | |
| 7 | Ekaterini Voggoli | Greece | 60.66 | 61.44 | x | 62.37 | 62.32 | 61.84 | 62.37 | |
| 8 | Li Yanfeng | China | 60.67 | 57.36 | 61.05 | | | | 61.05 | |
| 9 | Joanna Wiśniewska | Poland | 58.33 | 60.74 | 59.95 | | | | 60.74 | |
| 10 | Styliani Tsikouna | Greece | 59.48 | 57.76 | x | | | | 59.48 | |
| | Yania Ferrales | Cuba | x | x | x | | | | NM | |
| | Iryna Yatchenko | Belarus | 59.98 | 61.67 | 66.17 | 65.46 | 63.08 | 65.54 | 66.17 | DSQ |