Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's discus throw

Robert Harting was the defending champion from the 2012 Olympics – though injury had affected his 2015 season, he ranked third in the world before the competition. His brother Christoph Harting was one place higher, while the reigning 2015 World Champion Piotr Małachowski topped the world seasonal rankings.[2]

In qualification, Robert Harting could not reach his seasonal peak and was eliminated. Other prominent athletes who failed to progress were 2012 Olympic runner-up Ehsan Haddadi, 2015 World Championship bronze medalist Robert Urbanek and Fedrick Dacres, who was fourth on the world rankings. Only two athletes achieved the automatic qualifying mark: Małachowski headed the field over Lukas Weißhaidinger of Austria.[3]

In the final, Małachowski seized the lead in the opening round with 67.32 m. He had three successive throws over 67 metres while Germany's Christoph Harting and Jasinski held second and third with throws over 66 metres. Those top three positions stood from round 2 through to the penultimate round. In the last round the competitors came to life: Estonia's Martin Kupper threw 66.58 m to take the silver medal position. Jasinski immediately replied with 67.05 m to move into second place himself. Harting, sitting outside the medals at that point, delivered a lifetime best of 68.37 m (224 ft 3 in) with his final throw to take the gold medal. Małachowski could not respond with his last effort and finished with the silver medal, having led for almost the entire competition and holding three of the four best marks of the 2016 Olympics. Harting's win made it the first time in Olympic athletics history that siblings had won successive gold medals.[4]

All times are Brasília Time (UTC−3).

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Jürgen Schult (GDR)	74.08 m	Neubrandenburg, East Germany	6 June 1986
Olympic record	Virgilijus Alekna (LTU)	69.89 m	Athens, Greece	23 August 2004

The following record was established during the competition:

Date	Event	Nationality	Athlete	Distance	Record
13 August	Final	Germany	Christoph Harting	68.37 m	2016 World Leading

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.