Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's shot put

In the final, the surprise find of the season Ryan Crouser set the tone with a 21.15 m on the first throw of the competition. Two throwers later, O'Dayne Richards also set his tone with a big first throw, but his foot went over the toe board. Two time defending champion Tomasz Majewski and his Polish teammate, two time world junior champion Konrad Bukowiecki also had foul trouble. Bukowiecki never got a legal throw in. On the fourth throw of the competition, the home crowd got a thrill as Darlan Romani threw the Brazilian National Record 21.02 m, beating the mark he set earlier in the morning. Two more throws later, Franck Elemba threw 21.20 m to take the lead and set the new national record for the Congo. On the tenth throw, the 2016 world leader Joe Kovacs threw 21.78 m to take over the lead at the end of the first round. Starting the second round, Crouser tossed 22.22 m, to not only take the lead but to become tied for the number 17 thrower in history. Near the end of the round, Tomas Walsh threw 21.20 m, to equal Elemba's distance, but with his second throw of 21.00 Elemba held the tiebreaker for bronze position. For his third round throw, Crouser improved his best to 22.26 m, to advance to become the number 14 thrower in history. After dropping off four competitors and changing the throwing order, Walsh moved into the bronze medal position with a 21.36 m in the fifth round. Then Crouser put the exclamation point on his night's work with a 22.52 m (73 ft 10 ¹⁄₂ in), beating Ulf Timmermann's Olympic Record from 1988; the days of East German doping dominance. It moved him into a tie for the number 10 thrower in history. Since 2004, only Kovacs has thrown farther.

The medals were presented by Issa Hayatou, IOC member,  Cameroon and Karim Ibrahim, Council Member of the IAAF.

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.

All times are Brasilia Time (UTC-3)

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

World record	Randy Barnes (USA)	23.12 m	Los Angeles, California, United States	20 May 1990
Olympic record	Ulf Timmermann (GDR)	22.47 m	Seoul, South Korea	23 September 1988
2016 World leading	Joe Kovacs (USA)	22.13 m	Eugene, Oregon, United States	22 May 2016

The following record was established during the competition:

Date	Event	Nationality	Athlete	Distance	Record
18 August	Final	United States	Ryan Crouser	22.52 m	Olympic record

The following national records were established during the competition:

Country	Athlete	Round	Distance	Notes
Brazil	Darlan Romani (BRA)	Qualifying	20.94 m
Congo	Franck Elemba (CGO)	Final	21.20 m
Brazil	Darlan Romani (BRA)	Final	21.02 m