[2] Leo Sexton of the United States won the gold medal, the nation's third consecutive and eighth overall victory in the men's shot put.

[3] It was also the third consecutive year the Americans took the top two places (including a full medal sweep in 1924), as Harlow Rothert took silver.

He faced strong challengers, however, as Hirschfeld, František Douda of Czechoslovakia, and Zygmunt Heljasz of Poland had taken turns as world record holder between 1928 and 1932.

[1] Argentina, Poland, and South Africa each made their debut in the men's shot put.

The United States appeared for the ninth time, the only nation to have competed in all Olympic shot put competitions to date.