Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Men's discus throw

Qualification

The qualification standard was 55.00 metres. Each thrower had three attempts to reach that standard. Since only 10 throwers made the mark, the next two furthest also advanced to meet the minimum 12 in the final. The table shows the results of the three qualifying rounds.^[2]

Place	Athlete	Nation	Best mark		Throw 1	Throw 2	Throw 3
1	Al Oerter	United States	60.54 metres OR		60.54	—
2	Ludvik Danek	Czechoslovakia	58.88 metres		58.88	—
3	Jay Silvester	United States	57.81 metres		X	57.81	—
4	Victor Kompaneets	Soviet Union	57.40 metres		57.40	—
5	Dave Weill	United States	56.95 metres		56.95	—
6	Hartmut Losch	United Team of Germany	56.46 metres		56.46	—
7	Zenon Begier	Poland	56.31 metres		56.31	—
8	Roy Hollingsworth	Great Britain	55.96 metres		52.60	55.08	55.96
9	Edmund Piątkowski	Poland	55.22 metres		55.22	—
10	József Szécsényi	Hungary	55.04 metres		55.04	—
11	Kim Bukhantsev	Soviet Union	54.94 metres		54.94	X	X
12	Vladimir Trusenyov	Soviet Union	53.81 metres		53.81	51.94	52.25
13	Fritz Kühl	United Team of Germany	53.53 metres		53.53	53.04	X
14	Lothar Milde	United Team of Germany	53.39 metres		53.39	50.83	X
15	Pentti Repo	Finland	52.93 metres		52.93	X	50.60
16	Dako Radosevic	Yugoslavia	52.71 metres		51.22	52.71	51.37
17	Kees Koch	Netherlands	52.57 metres		51.20	52.57	51.08
18	Jiří Žemba	Czechoslovakia	52.13 metres		X	52.13	51.80
19	Warwick Selvey	Australia	51.96 metres		50.83	X	51.96
20	Ernst Soudek	Austria	51.78 metres		X	51.78	50.96
21	Les Mills	New Zealand	51.70 metres		44.18	51.70	51.22
22	Georgios Tsakanikas	Greece	51.03 metres		50.76	51.03	48.07
23	Shohei Kaneko	Japan	46.46 metres		44.63	43.31	46.46
24	Segui Denis Kragbe	Ivory Coast	46.43 metres		44.07	46.43	44.03
25	Ignacio Reinosa	Puerto Rico	46.36 metres		46.36	45.96	X
26	Gideon Ariel	Israel	46.12 metres		45.10	44.26	46.12
27	Sayed Mirza Molimadail	Iran	45.24 metres		X	45.24	44.96
28	Kim Byeong-gi	South Korea	42.73 metres		42.73	X	X
—	Lars Haglund	Sweden	No mark		X	X	X

Finals

The scores from the qualification round were erased and each thrower was given three throws. The six best in those three received another three throws, keeping all six.

Danek's first throw broke Oerter's record from the qualifier. Weill topped that with his second throw, then Danek took the record back in the fourth throw. Oerter's fifth throw, a full 61 metres to regain the record, silenced the others and won him his third straight gold medal.

Place	Athlete	Nation	Best mark		Throw 1	Throw 2	Throw 3	Throw 4	Throw 5	Throw 6
1	Al Oerter	United States	61.00 metres OR		57.65	58.34	55.11	54.37	61.00	X
2	Ludvik Danek	Czechoslovakia	60.52 metres		59.73	58.83	X	60.52	58.38	57.17
3	Dave Weill	United States	59.49 metres		X	59.49	56.15	56.15	55.94	52.45
4	Jay Silvester	United States	59.09 metres		56.99	X	57.54	57.46	59.09	X
5	József Szécsényi	Hungary	57.23 metres		54.34	52.14	56.97	57.23	X	54.66
6	Zenon Begier	Poland	57.06 metres		57.06	52.45	55.83	X	X	56.68
7	Edmund Piatkowski	Poland	55.81 metres		52.94	55.81	53.87
8	Vladimir Trusenev	Soviet Union	54.78 metres		53.70	54.78	52.98
9	Kim Bukhantsev	Soviet Union	54.38 metres		X	50.15	54.38
10	Roy Anselm Hollingsworth	Great Britain	53.87 metres		53.74	53.87	X
11	Hartmut Losch	United Team of Germany	52.08 metres		51.44	52.08	X
12	Victor Kompaneets	Soviet Union	51.96 metres		X	51.96	X