[2] Hungary's Róbert Fazekas had initially finished first in the final but committed an anti-doping breach for failing to submit a proper urine sample during the drug test and was thereby not allowed to present his gold in the medal ceremony, resulting in his disqualification.

[3] Lithuania's Virgilijus Alekna, who originally placed second in the final, eventually defended his Olympic title at the time of the medal ceremony and was followed by Fazekas' teammate Zoltán Kővágó for the silver and Estonia's Aleksander Tammert for the bronze.

For the men's discus throw, each National Olympic Committee was permitted to enter up to three athletes who had thrown 64.00 metres or further during the qualification period.

Each finalist was allowed three throws in the last round, with the top eight athletes after that point being given three further attempts.

Virgilijus Alekna broke the Olympic record with his first throw in the final, marked at 69.89 metres.