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

Valerie Adams entered as the defending Olympic champion from 2012 (initial champion Nadzeya Ostapchuk remained banned for doping). Adams had regained form, ranking second in the world with 20.19 m, after two injury affected seasons. Christina Schwanitz had won the 2015 World Championships in her absence and had taken gold at the European Championships the previous month with a throw of 20.17 m. Gong Lijiao (the 2015 world runner-up) led the rankings at 20.43 m. Michelle Carter, who had won World Indoor and American titles that year, was the only other woman to have thrown beyond twenty metres that year.[1][2]

In the qualifying round, Adams was best with her only throw of 19.74 m, while Schwanitz and Carter also went beyond nineteen metres, though Carter took two attempts to get the automatic qualifier. Gong, Anita Márton, and Raven Saunders were the other automatic qualifiers. American Felisha Johnson, who was eighth on the season's lists, was the most prominent athlete who failed to progress to the final.[3]

In the final, Valerie Adams looked set to claim a third straight title. She took the lead after the first round with a 19.79 m and improved her position with a throw of 20.42 m in the second round. Carter sat in second position through all the rounds of the competition with a 19.12 m in the first and 19.82 m in the second (which only briefly held the lead until Adams could throw again). Schwanitz held the bronze medal position in the first round, but was overtaken by Gong in the second. Márton equalled Gong with a third round 19.39, but was still behind on the tiebreaker. In the final round Márton threw a Hungarian record 19.87 m to take over bronze medal position, equalling Carter's best at that point but still down due to the tie breaking second throw. In the final round Carter delivered an unexpected American record of a whopping distance of 20.63 m to take the lead. In the last throw of the competition Adams went beyond twenty metres again but her mark of 20.39 m came up short and Carter succeeded her to the title.

The medals were presented by Barry Maister, IOC member, New Zealand and Geoffrey Gardner, Council Member of the IAAF.

All times are Brasília Time (UTC−3).

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

World record	Natalya Lisovskaya (URS)	22.63 m	Moscow, Soviet Union	7 June 1987
Olympic record	Ilona Slupianek (GDR)	22.41 m	Moscow, Soviet Union	24 July 1980
2016 World leading	Gong Lijiao (CHN)	20.43 m	Halle, Germany	21 May 2016

The following record was established during the competition:

Date	Event	Nationality	Athlete	Distance	Record
12 August	Final	United States	Michelle Carter	20.63 m	2016 World Leading

The following national records were established during the competition:

Country	Athlete	Round	Distance	Notes
Cameroon	Auriole Dongmo (CMR)	Qualifying	17.92 m
United States	Michelle Carter (USA)	Final	20.63 m	WL
Hungary	Anita Márton (HUN)	Final	19.87 m