It was originally planned to hold the discus throw at the Ancient Olympia Stadium, but it was discovered that the field was not large enough to accommodate the range of modern discus throwers, and would have posed a danger to spectators.

As such, it was decided to move the discus throw and to hold the shot put at the ancient stadium, despite the fact that the shot put was not contested at the Ancient Olympic Games.

[1] On December 5, 2012, Belarusian discus thrower Iryna Yatchenko was stripped of her bronze medal after drug re-testings of her samples on methandienone had been discovered positive.

[2][3] Following the announcement of Yatchenko's disqualification, the International Olympic Committee Executive Board had distributed and awarded the bronze to Czech Republic's Věra Pospíšilová-Cechlová, who originally finished fourth in the final.

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