Tomasz Majewski of Poland displays a national flag of Poland. (Photo credit: Liao Yujie/Xinhua)(BEIJING, August 15) — Tomasz Majewski of Poland won gold in the Men’s Shot Put final at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on Friday, August 15, at the National Stadium. His best throw of 21.51m put him ahead of Christian Cantwell of the United States, whose throw of 21.09m won him the silver, while bronze went to Andrei Mikhnevich of Belarus with a throw of 21.05m.
Majewski set a new personal best of 21.04m in the qualifying rounds this morning, only to beat it again with his gold medal winning 21.51m throw.
Athens 2004 silver medalist Adam Nelson caused the biggest shock of the day, failing to mark any of his throws.
Tomasz Majewski of Poland competes. (Photo credit: Li Gang/Xinhua)“I had some big throws and big fouls. Unfortunately they didn’t count. There is not much good to take out of this. I was just throwing down the left sector line and I don’t really do that often. It’s inexcusable,” he said after the event.
Canada’s Dylan Armstrong came in fourth with a national record throw of 21.04m. Pavel Lyzhyn of Belarus threw a personal best of 20.98m to claim fifth.
In another twist to form, first-ranked qualifier after the preliminaries and defending Olympic champion Ukraine’s Yuriy Bilonog, came in sixth with a season best 20.63m throw.
(Source: en.beijing2008.cn)
