Medalists
| Gold |
 Tomasz Majewski
Poland (POL) |
| Silver |
 Christian Cantwell
United States (USA) |
| Bronze |
 Andrei Mikhnevich
Belarus (BLR) |
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World Record |
Randy Barnes (USA) |
23.12 m |
Westwood, USA |
20 May 1990 |
| Olympic Record |
Ulf Timmermann (GDR) |
22.47 m |
Seoul, South Korea |
23 September 1988 |
Qualifying round
| Group |
Rank |
Name |
Nationality |
Result |
Notes |
| A |
1 |
Tomasz Majewski |
Poland |
21,04 |
Q, PB |
| B |
2 |
Adam Nelson |
United States |
20,56 |
Q |
| B |
3 |
Andrei Mikhnevich |
Belarus |
20,48 |
Q |
| A |
4 |
Christian Cantwell |
United States |
20,48 |
Q |
| A |
5 |
Dylan Armstrong |
Canada |
20,43 |
Q |
| A |
6 |
Reese Hoffa |
United States |
20,41 |
Q |
| B |
7 |
Yury Bialou |
Ukraine |
20,36 |
q |
| B |
8 |
Pavel Lyzhyn |
Belarus |
20,36 |
q |
| A |
9 |
Pavel Sofin |
Russia |
20,29 |
q |
| B |
10 |
Rutger Smith |
Netherlands |
20,13 |
q |
| A |
11 |
Yury Bialou |
Belarus |
20,12 |
q |
| B |
12 |
Ivan Yushkov |
Russia |
20,02 |
q |
| B |
13 |
Peter Sack |
Germany |
20,01 |
|
| A |
14 |
Andriy Semenov |
Ukraine |
20,01 |
|
| B |
15 |
Dorian Scott |
Jamaica |
19,94 |
|
| B |
16 |
Justin Anlezark |
Australia |
19,91 |
|
| A |
17 |
Hamza Alic |
Bosnia and Herzegovina |
19,87 |
|
| A |
18 |
Anton Lyuboslavskiy |
Russia |
19,87 |
|
| B |
19 |
Manuel Martínez |
Spain |
19,81 |
|
| B |
20 |
Miran Vodovnik |
Slovenia |
19,81 |
|
| A |
21 |
Scott Martin |
Australia |
19,75 |
|
| A |
22 |
Joachim B. Olsen |
Denmark |
19,74 |
SB |
| B |
23 |
Yves Niare |
France |
19,73 |
|
| A |
24 |
Carlos Véliz |
Cuba |
19,58 |
|
| B |
25 |
Taavi Peetre |
Estonia |
19,57 |
|
| A |
26 |
Māris Urtāns |
Latvia |
19,57 |
|
| B |
27 |
Sultan Abdulmajeed Alhebshi |
Saudi Arabia |
19,51 |
|
| B |
28 |
Petr Stehlik |
Czech Republic |
19,41 |
|
| B |
29 |
Nedzad Mulabegovic |
roatia |
19,35 |
|
| A |
30 |
Milan Haborak |
Slovakia |
19,32 |
|
| B |
31 |
Reinaldo Proenza |
Cuba |
19,20 |
|
| A |
32 |
Germán Lauro |
Argentina |
19,07 |
|
| A |
33 |
Asmir Kolasinic |
Serbia |
19,01 |
|
| A |
34 |
Lajos Imre Kurthy |
Hungary |
18,74 |
|
| B |
35 |
Ivan Emilianov |
Moldova |
18,64 |
|
| A |
36 |
Michail Stamatogiannis |
Greece |
18,45 |
|
| B |
37 |
Yasser Farag |
Egypt |
18,42 |
|
| B |
38 |
Marco Fortes |
Portugal |
18,05 |
|
| A |
39 |
Marco Antonio Verni |
Chile |
17,96 |
|
| B |
40 |
Chang Ming-Huang |
Chinese Taipei |
17,43 |
|
| A |
— |
Ralf Bartels |
Germany |
DNS |
|
| A |
— |
Robert Haggblom |
Finland |
NM |
|
| A |
— |
Georgi Ivanov |
Bulgaria |
NM |
|
| B |
— |
Amin Nikfar |
Iran |
NM |
|
| B |
— |
Alexis Paumier |
Cuba |
NM |
|
AR Area record | CR championship record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB/PR personal best/record | SB seasonal best | WL world leading (in a given season) | WR world record |
DNF = did not finish | DNS = did not start | DQ = disqualification | NM = no mark (i.e. no valid result) | Q = qualification by place in heat | q = qualification by overall place |
Final
August 15, 2008 - 21:00
| Order |
Name |
Nationality |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
Result |
Notes |
| 1 |
Tomasz Majewski |
Poland |
20.80 |
20.47 |
21.21 |
21.51 |
x |
20.44 |
21.51 |
PB |
| 2 |
Christian Cantwell |
United States |
20.39 |
20.98 |
20.88 |
20.86 |
20.69 |
21.09 |
21.09 |
|
| 3 |
Andrei Mikhnevich |
Belarus |
20.73 |
21.05 |
x |
20.78 |
20.57 |
20.93 |
21.05 |
|
| 4 |
Dylan Armstrong |
Canada |
20.62 |
21.04 |
x |
x |
20.47 |
x |
21.04 |
NR |
| 5 |
Pavel Lyzhyn |
Belarus |
20.33 |
20.15 |
20.98 |
20.98 |
20.40 |
x |
20.98 |
PB |
| 6 |
Yuriy Bilonog |
Ukraine |
20.63 |
x |
20.53 |
20.46 |
20.31 |
x |
20.63 |
SB |
| 7 |
Reese Hoffa |
United States |
x |
19.81 |
20.53 |
20.38 |
x |
x |
20.53 |
|
| 8 |
Pavel Sof'in |
Russia |
20.42 |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
20.42 |
|
| 9 |
Rutger Smith |
Netherlands |
20.41 |
x |
20.30 |
|
20.41 |
|
| 10 |
Yury Bialou |
Belarus |
20.06 |
x |
x |
|
20.06 |
|
| 11 |
Ivan Yushkov |
Russia |
19.67 |
19.55 |
x |
|
19.67 |
|
| — |
Adam Nelson |
United States |
x |
x |
x |
|
NM |
|
|
