# Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Men's shot put

The men's shot put was an event at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. There were 26 participating athletes from 18 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event took place on 31 July 1992. The event was won by Mike Stulce of the United States, the nation's first victory in the men's shot put since 1968 (and 15th overall). His countryman Jim Doehring took silver. Vyacheslav Lykho of the Unified Team earned bronze, the first medal for a Soviet or former Soviet athlete in the event since 1980.

## Summary

Switzerland's Werner Günthör was again favored, having won the 1987 and 1991 World Championships. But he was below par and placed only fourth. American Mike Stulce was leading, having the four longest throws of the event, and winning gold with 21.70. He won over teammate Jim Doehring, who threw 20.96 in round two for the silver. Russian Vyacheslav Lykho had his two best throws in the first two rounds, getting the bronze with 20.94. The outcome of this event was a surprise to pundits and spectators alike, with Stulce's win being considered one of the most unexpected upsets of the 1992 games.

## Background

This was the 22nd appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The returning finalists from the 1988 Games were defending champion Ulf Timmermann of East Germany (now representing unified Germany), bronze medalist (and 1984 finalist) Werner Günthör of Switzerland, fourth-place finisher (and 1976 gold medalist and 1980 bronze medalist) Udo Beyer of East Germany, sixth-place finisher Gert Weil of Chile, seventh-place finisher (and 1984 gold medalist) Alessandro Andrei of Italy, and eleventh-place finisher Jim Doehring of the United States. Günthör had won the 1987 and 1991 world championships; as in 1988, he was favored over the three men who had previously won the event. American Randy Barnes, the silver medalist in 1988, had set the world record in 1990 (a record that still stands as of 2020), but was suspended and could not compete.
Bosnia and Herzegovina and Qatar each made their debut in the men's shot put, one Yugoslav competitor competed as an Independent Olympic Participant, and some former Soviet republics competed as the Unified Team. The United States made its 21st 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 19.80 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

The standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1992 Games were as follows.
| World record | Randy Barnes (USA) | 23.12 | Los Angeles, United States | 22 May 1988 |
| Olympic record | Ulf Timmermann (GDR) | 22.47 | Seoul, South Korea | 23 September 1988 |
No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

## Schedule

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Friday, 31 July 1992 | 10:00 18:55 | Qualifying Final |

## Results
### Qualifying

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | 1 | 2 | 3 | Distance | Notes |
| 1 | Jim Doehring | United States | 19.77 | 20.53 | — | 20.53 | Q |
| 2 | Werner Günthör | Switzerland | 20.50 | — | — | 20.50 | Q |
| 3 | Luciano Zerbini | Italy | 20.25 | — | — | 20.25 | Q |
| 4 | Dragan Perić | Independent Olympic Participants | X | 18.35 | 20.24 | 20.24 | Q |
| 5 | Vyacheslav Lykho | Unified Team | X | 20.24 | — | 20.24 | Q |
| 6 | Mike Stulce | United States | 20.18 | — | — | 20.18 | Q |
| 7 | Aleksandr Klimenko | Unified Team | 19.33 | 20.16 | — | 20.16 | Q |
| 8 | Alessandro Andrei | Italy | 19.51 | 19.51 | 20.14 | 20.14 | Q |
| 9 | Ulf Timmermann | Germany | 19.62 | 19.73 | 19.93 | 19.93 | Q |
| 10 | Klaus Bodenmüller | Austria | 19.56 | 19.86 | — | 19.86 | Q |
| 11 | Ron Backes | United States | 19.71 | 19.35 | X | 19.71 | q |
| 12 | Sören Tallhem | Sweden | 18.41 | 19.18 | 19.65 | 19.65 | q |
| 13 | Gert Weil | Chile | 18.51 | 19.04 | 19.41 | 19.41 | |
| 14 | Pétur Guðmundsson | Iceland | 18.46 | 18.76 | 19.15 | 19.15 | |
| 15 | Paul Edwards | Great Britain | 18.57 | 19.03 | 18.80 | 19.03 | |
| 16 | Andriy Nemchaninov | Unified Team | 18.91 | 18.98 | X | 18.98 | |
| 17 | Gheorghe Guşet | Romania | 18.41 | X | 18.96 | 18.96 | |
| 18 | Kent Larsson | Sweden | 18.46 | X | 18.56 | 18.56 | |
| 19 | Udo Beyer | Germany | 18.47 | X | X | 18.47 | |
| 20 | Antero Paljakka | Finland | 18.42 | X | X | 18.42 | |
| 21 | Khaled Al-Khalidi | Saudi Arabia | 17.56 | 17.72 | 17.50 | 17.72 | |
| 22 | Victor Costello | Ireland | 15.99 | 17.15 | X | 17.15 | |
| 23 | Paul Quirke | Ireland | 16.71 | 17.01 | 16.99 | 17.01 | |
| 24 | Bilal Saad Mubarak | Qatar | 16.91 | 16.98 | X | 16.98 | |
| 25 | Peter Dajia | Canada | X | X | 16.81 | 16.81 | |
| 26 | Zlatan Saračević | Bosnia and Herzegovina | X | 15.12 | 16.38 | 16.38 | |
| — | Kalman Konya | Germany | DNS | DNS | DNS | DNS | |

### Final

The final was held on July 31, 1992.
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Distance |
| | Mike Stulce | United States | 21.49 | 21.58 | X | 21.11 | 21.70 | X | 21.70 |
| | Jim Doehring | United States | 19.89 | 20.96 | X | 20.17 | X | 20.03 | 20.96 |
| | Vyacheslav Lykho | Unified Team | 20.93 | 20.94 | 20.79 | X | 19.99 | 20.35 | 20.94 |
| 4 | Werner Günthör | Switzerland | 19.74 | 20.01 | 20.27 | 20.85 | X | 20.91 | 20.91 |
| 5 | Ulf Timmermann | Germany | 20.12 | 20.03 | 19.83 | 20.49 | 20.10 | 20.38 | 20.49 |
| 6 | Klaus Bodenmüller | Austria | 20.13 | 20.19 | 20.48 | 20.39 | 19.81 | 19.92 | 20.48 |
| 7 | Dragan Perić | Independent Olympic Participants | X | 19.90 | 19.59 | 20.07 | X | 20.32 | 20.32 |
| 8 | Aleksandr Klimenko | Unified Team | X | 20.23 | X | X | X | 20.14 | 20.23 |
| 9 | Luciano Zerbini | Italy | 19.88 | 19.75 | 19.54 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | 19.88 |
| 10 | Ron Backes | United States | 19.75 | X | X | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | 19.75 |
| 11 | Alessandro Andrei | Italy | 19.46 | 19.53 | 19.62 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | 19.62 |
| 12 | Sören Tallhem | Sweden | 18.31 | 19.32 | X | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | 19.32 |