Discus champions and records
The current world record for the men stands at 74.08m and is held by the German athlete (of the then GDR) Jurgen Schult. At 21 years, it’s one of Athletics’ longest-standing records, having been set in Neubrandenburg (GDR) in June 1986.
The same goes for the ladies’ world record, held by GDR’s Gabriele Reinsch with the astonishing measure of 76.80m, recorded in July 1988, again (one may well wonder) in Neubrandenburg.
Among the all time greats for the men, besides Schult, two other names stand out: Al Oerter (USA), one of the great Olympic competitors of all time, with four gold medals over a 12-year span. His personal best was 69.46m in 1980 when aged 43! The other is Lars Riedel of Germany, Olympic champion in 1996 (by a massive 2.80m margin), who also won four consecutive world titles in the 1990s. A hip muscle injury held him back to third place when bidding for a fifth in 1999, something which he finally achieved in 2001, when he won World championship gold again in Edmonton.
TOP TEN PERFORMANCES
MEN (updated June 16th 2009)
A curious mixture of “old” and new, the top ten list features marks set over a period of 26 years, in which the world record has been improved by 2.82m, only 4,0%.
The distribution by nation sees 2 athletes from Germany (one from the former GDR) and the USA, and one each from Lithuania, Estonia, the former USSR, Sweden and Hungary.
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MARK
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ATHLETE
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VENUE
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DATE
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74.08 m
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June 6, 1986
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73.88 m
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August 3, 2000
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73.38 m
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September 4, 2006
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71.86 m
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May 29, 1983
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71.70 m
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July 14, 2002
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71.64 m
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June 25, 2009
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71.50 m
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May 3, 1997
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71.32 m
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June 4, 1983
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71.26 m
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June 9, 1984
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71.26 m
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November 15, 1984
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TOP TEN PERFORMANCES
WOMEN (??) (updated June 16th 2009)
Scary: Gabriele Reinsch of the GDRThe astonishing (and suspicious?) fact is that all the top ten performances were set within a 5 year period, from 1984 to 1989, all recorded in the then GDR or the then USSR and its satellite states.
Germany (GDR) fields 6 of the best performances, while one each is ascribed to Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and the former USSR.
Just to cap it off, the World Junior record, set in Berlin in 1988, is still held by Ilke Wyludda of…the former GDR, with the sensational measure of 74.40.
To compare, the current senior American record stands at 70.88m (Hilda Ramos of Cuba, 1992), and the 2009 season’s best performance has been recorded by Stephanie Brown Trafton (USA) with 66.21m, over 10m short of Reinsch’s world record!
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MARK
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ATHLETE
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VENUE
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DATE
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76.80
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July 9, 1988
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74.56
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August 26, 1984
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74.56
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July 23, 1989
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74.08
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June 20, 1987
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73.84
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April 30, 1988
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73.36
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August 17, 1984
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73.28
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September 8, 1984
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73.23
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April 19, 1987
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73.10
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July 20, 1984
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72.92
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August 20, 1987
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