Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's discus throw

Women's discus throw at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Venue	Beijing National Stadium
Date	15 August 2008 (qualification) 18 August 2008 (final)
Competitors	38 from 24 nations
Winning distance	64.74
Medalists
Stephanie Brown Trafton   United States   vacant   Olena Antonova   Ukraine

Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men		women
200 m		men		women
400 m		men		women
800 m		men		women
1500 m		men		women
5000 m		men		women
10,000 m		men		women
100 m hurdles				women
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men		women
3000 m steeplechase		men		women
4 × 100 m relay		men		women
4 × 400 m relay		men		women
Road events
Marathon		men		women
20 km walk		men		women
50 km walk		men
Field events
Long jump		men		women
Triple jump		men		women
High jump		men		women
Pole vault		men		women
Shot put		men		women
Discus throw		men		women
Javelin throw		men		women
Hammer throw		men		women
Combined events
Heptathlon				women
Decathlon		men

The women's discus throw event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 15–18 August at the Beijing Olympic Stadium.^[1]

The qualifying standards were 61.00 m (200.13 ft) (A standard) and 59.00 m (193.57 ft) (B standard).^[2]

On the sixth throw of the competition, world leader Stephanie Brown Trafton settled the results, throwing 64.74 m (212 ft 4 in). The next thrower in the ring Yarelis Barrios threw 63.17m which would be good enough for second place. Barrios improved to 63.64m in the second round to assure her hold on second place. The final thrower in the first round, Olena Antonova pulled into third position, which she gradually improved to her best of 62.59 in the fifth round. Through the rest of the competition, Brown Trafton didn't land another throw that would be competitive with the leaders, but she didn't need to. Song Aimin struggled with the worst throw of the opening round and was flirting with elimination until her third round throw which put her into fourth place. Song solidified that position with a fifth round 62.20, which would later become relevant.

Eight years after the event, the IOC reanalyzed doping samples of silver medalist Yarelis Barrios and disqualified her for having the masking agent acetazolamide in her sample. She was stripped of her medal.^[3] If the IOC reallocates medals, Antonova stands to advance to the silver medal and Song would get bronze.

Schedule

All times are China standard time (UTC+8)

Records

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

World record	Gabriele Reinsch (GDR)	76.80	Neubrandenburg, East Germany	9 July 1988
Olympic record	Martina Hellmann (GDR)	72.30	Seoul, South Korea	29 September 1988

No new world or Olympic records were set for this event.

Results

Qualifying round

Qualification: 61.50 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) advance to the Final.

Rank	Group	Name	Nationality	#1	#2	#3	Result	Notes
1	A	Stephanie Brown Trafton	United States	57.78	x	62.77	62.77	Q
2	B	Nicoleta Grasu	Romania	57.75	62.51		62.51	Q
3	A	Iryna Yatchenko	Belarus	62.26			62.26	Q
DSQ[4]	A	Yarelis Barrios	Cuba	62.23			62.23	Q
5	A	Mélina Robert-Michon	France	x	55.18	62.21	62.21	Q, SB
6	B	Aretha Thurmond	United States	58.70	61.90		61.90	Q
7	A	Dani Samuels	Australia	x	x	61.72	61.72	Q
8	B	Song Aimin	China	59.89	61.31	61.67	61.67	Q
9	B	Vera Pospíšilová-Cechlová	Czech Republic	61.61			61.61	Q
10	B	Li Yanfeng	China	60.99	61.29	x	61.29	q
11	A	Olena Antonova	Ukraine	61.25	60.61	59.92	61.25	q
12	A	Ellina Zvereva	Belarus	x	60.28	59.60	60.28	q
13	B	Dragana Tomašević	Serbia	55.59	x	60.19	60.19
14	A	Natalia Semenova	Ukraine	x	60.18	x	60.18
15	B	Yania Ferrales	Cuba	59.87	58.73	59.85	59.87
16	B	Svetlana Saykina	Russia	x	x	59.48	59.48
17	A	Wioletta Potępa	Poland	59.44	59.20	59.10	59.44
18	A	Joanna Wiśniewska	Poland	59.40	58.08	x	59.40
19	A	Elisângela Adriano	Brazil	x	x	58.84	58.84
20	B	Elizna Naudé	South Africa	58.75	57.09	58.35	58.75
21	A	Kateryna Karsak	Ukraine	x	53.14	58.61	58.61
22	A	Vera Begić	Croatia	55.87	58.50	x	58.50
23	A	Ma Xuejun	China	58.45	x	56.84	58.45
24	B	Krishna Poonia	India	57.31	58.23	58.15	58.23
25	B	Natalya Sadova	Russia	x	58.11	57.76	58.11
26	A	Suzy Powell-Roos	United States	58.02	x	x	58.02
27	A	Philippa Roles	Great Britain	x	56.88	57.44	57.44
28	B	Beatrice Faumuina	New Zealand	57.15	x	54.49	57.15
29	B	Hanna Mazgunova	Belarus	x	x	56.77	56.77
30	A	Harwant Kaur	India	56.38	56.38	56.42	56.42
31	B	Anna Söderberg	Sweden	x	55.28	53.48	55.28
32	A	Oxana Yesipchuk	Russia	54.91	54.34	55.07	55.07
33	B	Zinaida Sendriūtė	Lithuania	54.81	53.41	52.42	54.81
34	B	Venera Getova	Bulgaria	52.51	54.00	52.40	54.00
35	B	Dorothea Kalpakidou	Greece	x	53.00	51.61	53.00
36	B	Barbara Rocio Comba	Argentina	x	x	51.36	51.36
37	A	Tereapii Tapoki	Cook Islands	46.77	44.11	48.35	48.35
99 !	B	Żaneta Glanc	Poland	x	x	x	00 !NM

Final

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	Result	Notes[5]
01 !	Stephanie Brown Trafton	United States	64.74	x	x	58.39	61.30	x	64.74
03 !	Olena Antonova	Ukraine	60.79	62.16	x	60.50	62.59	62.34	62.59	SB
4	Song Aimin	China	56.41	59.55	62.17	61.75	62.20	60.51	62.20
5	Vera Pospíšilová-Cechlová	Czech Republic	x	61.08	x	58.74	61.75	61.66	61.75
6	Ellina Zvereva	Belarus	60.43	60.10	x	x	60.34	60.82	60.82
7	Li Yanfeng	China	60.68	x	59.72	x	x	60.62	60.68
8	Mélina Robert-Michon	France	60.49	x	x	x	60.66	60.45	60.66
9	Dani Samuels	Australia	57.14	x	60.15				60.15
10	Aretha Thurmond	United States	56.72	59.80	57.99				59.80
11	Iryna Yatchenko	Belarus	x	x	59.27				59.27
12	Nicoleta Grasu	Romania	58.63	x	x				58.63
DSQ (2nd)[6]	Yarelis Barrios	Cuba	63.17	63.64	62.22	62.12	x	60.30	63.64

References