Athletics at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Men's shot put

The men's shot put event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1948 Summer Olympics. Twenty-four athletes from 15 nations competed.^[1] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The competition was held on 3 August. The final was won by American Wilbur Thompson. Thompson's compatriots, Jim Delaney and Jim Fuchs took 2nd and 3rd place.^[2] It was the ninth time that an American had won the event, and the fifth time that the Americans had swept the medals.

Men's shot put at the Games of the XIV Olympiad
Olympic Stadium (during opening ceremony)
Venue	Wembley Stadium
Dates	3 August (qualifying and final)
Competitors	24 from 15 nations
Winning distance	17.12 OR
Medalists
Wilbur Thompson  United States Jim Delaney  United States Jim Fuchs  United States
← 1936 1952 →

Video on YouTube Official Video
@ 37:50

Background

This was the 11th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. None of the finalists from the pre-war 1936 Games returned. The American team was strong; Charles Fonville, who had been the "best putter early in the year" and had set the world record in April, was unable to even make the three-man roster. Jim Delaney won the U.S. trials, with Wilbur Thompson the runner-up.^[1]

Canada, Iceland, Pakistan, and Peru each made their debut in the men's shot put. The United States appeared for the 11th time, the only nation to have competed in all Olympic shot put competitions to date.

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 14.60 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 six competitors receiving an additional three attempts. The best distance among those six throws counted.^[1][3]

Records

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

World record	Charlie Fonville (USA)	17.68	Lawrence, United States	17 April 1948
Olympic record	Hans Woellke (GER)	16.20	Berlin, Germany	2 August 1936

Jim Fuchs broke the Olympic record with his first throw of the final, at 16.32 metres. Wilbur Thompson, later in the round, threw 16.47 metres to break the new record. In the second throw of the final, Jim Delaney achieved a new record at 16.68 metres. Later in the round, Thompson again broke this new record, putting the shot 17.12 metres. That would hold as the record through the rest of the competition. In all, the three men had 10 throws greater than the old Olympic record: all five of Thompson's legal throws, three of Fuchs's throws, and two of Delaney's. USA took a sweep of the medals.

Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

Date	Time	Round
Tuesday 3 August 1948	11:00 16:00	Qualifying Final

Results

Qualifying round

Qual. rule: qualification standard 14.60m (Q) or at least best 12 qualified (q).

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Distance	Notes
1	Jim Fuchs	United States	15.870	Q
2	Wilbur Thompson	United States	15.090	Q
3	Jim Delaney	United States	14.970	Q
4	Yrjö Lehtilä	Finland	14.850	Q
5	John Giles	Great Britain	14.795	Q
6	Jaakko Jouppila	Finland	14.720	Q
7	Mieczysław Łomowski	Poland	14.700	Q
	Gösta Arvidsson	Sweden	14.700	Q
9	Konstantinos Giataganas	Greece	14.630	Q
10	Čestmír Kalina	Czechoslovakia	14.540	q
11	Sigfús Sigurðsson	Iceland	14.480	q
12	Witold Gerutto	Poland	14.450	q
13	Willy Senn	Switzerland	14.450
14	Roland Nilsson	Sweden	14.360
15	Eric Coy	Canada	14.150
16	David Guiney	Ireland	14.010
17	Vilhjálmur Vilmundarson	Iceland	13.990
18	Roger Verhaes	Belgium	13.540
19	Harold Moody	Great Britain	13.400
20–24	Emilio Malchiodi	Argentina	Unknown
	Juan Kanhert	Argentina	Unknown
	Lionelo Patiño	Peru	Unknown
	Nazar Muhammad Khan Malik	Pakistan	Unknown
	Ahmed Zahur Khan	Pakistan	Unknown
—	Aad de Bruyn	Netherlands	DNS
	Eduardo Julve	Peru	DNS
	François Lapicque	France	DNS
	K. Meraklis	Greece	DNS
	Leo Roininen	Canada	DNS
	José Luis Torres	Spain	DNS

Final

Rank	Athlete	Nation	1	2	3	4	5	6	Distance	Notes
	Wilbur Thompson	United States	16.47 OR	17.12 OR	16.97	16.67	16.80	X	17.12	OR
	Jim Delaney	United States	16.14	16.68 OR	15.88	16.03	16.03	16.28	16.68
	Jim Fuchs	United States	16.32 OR	16.42	15.60	15.56	14.82	16.28	16.42
4	Mieczysław Łomowski	Poland	Unknown						15.43
5	Gösta Arvidsson	Sweden	Unknown						15.37
6	Yrjö Lehtilä	Finland	Unknown						15.05
7	Jaakko Jouppila	Finland	Unknown						14.59
8	Čestmír Kalina	Czechoslovakia	Unknown						14.55
9	Konstantinos Giataganas	Greece	Unknown						14.54
10	Witold Gerutto	Poland	Unknown						14.37
11	John Giles	Great Britain	Unknown						13.73
12	Sigfús Sigurðsson	Iceland	Unknown						13.66

References

1. "Shot Put, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
2. "Athletics at the 1948 London Summer Games: Men's Shot Put". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
3. Official Report, p. 270.

External links

• Organising Committee for the XIV Olympiad, The (1948). The Official Report of the Organising Committee for the XIV Olympiad. LA84 Foundation. Retrieved 5 September 2016.