The original silver medalist, Darya Pishchalnikova of Russia, was stripped of her silver medal after failing drugs tests. The rest of the competitors were elevated by one position accordingly.
Eight throwers exceeded the qualifying distance of 63.00 headed by
Barrios’s 65.94, and five of the top six qualifiers would fill the original
top five positions in the final. The odd one out was reigning champion
Brown Trafton, whose best throw of over 66 metres in round two was
a sector foul.
Li and Barrios reached 67.22 and 66.38 in the second round before
Perković took over with 68.11. The Croatian really connected with her
third throw, which landed at 69.11 and the gold medal was settled. Her
country had its first Olympic Champion in athletics. Darya
Pishchalnikova (RUS), who had reached 70.69 a month before the
Games, almost erased her tendency to lean to the left on the release of
the discus to throw 65.56 in round five and win the silver medal.
It transpired that the Russian had actually tested positive for
steroids in May 2012. Once that was confirmed, Pishchalnikova was
banned for 10 years and the IAAF annulled all her results from that
date. The IOC also decided to strip the Russian of her silver and pro-
mote all those below her, though that development was not made public
until the autumn of 2015.
Missing the final by two places (or one place disregarding
Pishchalnikova) was 40 year-old Nicoleta Grasu (ROU), competing at
her sixth Olympics.
Qualification
- Friday 03.08 19:10 - Mark 63.50m? - 8+4 Athletes