The women's discus throw competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom was held at the Olympic Stadium on 3–4 August. Each athlete received three throws in the qualifying round. All who achieved the qualifying distance progressed to the final. If less than twelve athletes were to achieve this mark, then the twelve furthest throwing athletes would 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.

Eight automatic qualifiers were achieved in the qualifying round, all but one exceeding the minimum by half a meter. Darya Pishchalnikova, Nadine Müller and Sandra Perković made it in their first attempt, while Yarelys Barrios hit the top qualifier 65.94 in her second throw after fouling the first. It took 62.47 to make the final.

In the final, Nadine Müller took the lead in the first round, while defending champion Stephanie Brown Trafton, who surprised everyone with her first round throw four years earlier, only managed the fifth best throw of the first round this time, and that turned out to be her best effort. In the second round, Li Yanfeng took the lead with 67.22. Previous silver medalist Yarelys Barrios followed with the second best throw of the competition 66.38. These positions lasted only until Sandra Perković threw 68.11 to assume the lead she would not relinquish. Her third round throw was a Croatian national record 69.11, solidifying her hold on the gold medal. Taking no follow through, she stood in the ring talking to the discus throughout its flight. In the fourth round, Darya Pishchalnikova edged into the bronze medal position with 66.42, then in the fifth round secured the silver medal with 67.56.

It was later announced that Pishchalnikova tested positive for the anabolic steroid oxandrolone in the samples taken in May 2012. In April 2013 she was banned by the Russian Athletics Federation for ten years, and her results from May 2012 were annulled, meaning she was set on track to lose her Olympic medal.

Schedule All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1) Date Time RoundFriday, 3 August 2012 19:10QualificationsSaturday, 4 August 2012 19:30Finals

Records , the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record76.80 mNeubrandenburg, East Germany9 July 1988Olympic record72.30 mSeoul, South Korea29 September 19882012 World leading70.69 mCheboksary, Russia7 July 2012

Qualifying round Entrants as of 27 July 2012.Entry List by Event. IAAF (2012-07-27). Retrieved on 2012-07-29.

Qual. rule: qualification standard 63.00 m (Q) or at least best 12 qualified (q).

Rank Group Name Nationality #1 #2 #3 Result Notes 1 A Yarelys Barrios x 65.94 – 65.94 Q 2 B Nadine Müller 65.89 – – 65.89 Q 3 B Sandra Perković 65.74 – – 65.74 Q 4 A Darya Pishchalnikova 65.02 – – 65.02 Q 5 B Stephanie Brown Trafton x 61.09 64.89 64.89 Q 6 A Li Yanfeng 59.69 64.48 – 64.48 Q 7 A Dani Samuels 60.02 x 63.97 63.97 Q, SB 8 A Krishna Poonia x 63.54 – 63.54 Q 9 B Anna Rüh 62.98 x 59.71 62.98 q 10 B Zinaida Sendriūtė 61.71 x 62.79 62.79 q 11 A Ma Xuejun 62.66 60.49 62.18 62.66 q 12 A Mélina Robert-Michon x 62.47 59.72 62.47 q 13 B Seema Antil x 61.10 61.99 61.99 14 B Nicoleta Grasu 61.86 59.59 x 61.86 SB 15 B Gia Lewis-Smallwood x 61.44 61.25 61.44 16 B Andressa de Morais x x 60.94 60.94 SB 17 B Svetlana Saykina 59.76 60.67 x 60.67 18 A Natalya Fokina-Semenova 58.37 60.61 60.36 60.61 19 B Dragana Tomašević 59.32 60.53 57.68 60.53 20 A Julia Fischer x 58.82 60.23 60.23 21 B Karen Gallardo 58.82 60.09 x 60.09 22 A Li Wen-Hua 58.22 59.91 58.99 59.91 23 A Żaneta Glanc 56.40 59.88 56.77 59.88 24 A Aretha Thurmond 58.38 59.39 57.81 59.39 25 A Rocío Comba 55.22 55.81 58.98 58.98 26 B Denia Caballero 57.47 x 58.78 58.78 27 B Kateryna Karsak x x 58.64 58.64 28 A Allison Randall 57.16 58.06 x 58.06 29 A Yaime Pérez 57.46 x 57.87 57.87 30 B Monique Jansen 55.65 57.50 56.04 57.50 31 B Irina Rodrigues 57.23 x 55.58 57.23 32 B Sviatlana Siarova 56.70 55.99 x 56.70 33 A Věra Pospíšilová-Cechlová 55.00 x x 55.00 – B Tan Jian x x x NM DSQ A Vera Karmishina-Ganeeva 59.90 49.53 x 59.90 Doping

Final

Entrants as of 3 August 2012.

Rank Name Nationality #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 Result Notes Sandra Perković 64.58 68.11 69.11 x 66.96 64.03 69.11 NR Li Yanfeng x 67.22 x x 63.64 x 67.22 Yarelys Barrios 63.97 66.38 64.84 64.06 x 65.21 66.38 4 Nadine Müller 65.71 65.06 x 64.16 64.35 65.94 65.94 5 Mélina Robert-Michon 62.23 61.70 62.41 62.66 63.62 63.98 63.98 SB 6 Krishna Poonia 62.42 x 61.61 x 63.62 61.31 63.62 7 Stephanie Brown Trafton 63.01 x 59.30 x x 61.89 63.01 8 Zinaida Sendriūtė 61.68 x x 61.68 9 Anna Rüh 59.95 x 61.36 61.36 10 Ma Xuejun 61.02 x 60.72 61.02 11 Dani Samuels 60.40 59.86 57.87 60.40 Darya Pishchalnikova 65.19 62.07 65.06 66.42 67.56 59.13 67.56 DQ

Darya Pishchalnikova, who had been originally awarded the silver medal, had been tested positive for the anabolic steroid oxandrolone and her medal and record were revoked.

References