[2] The event was won by Tomasz Majewski of Poland, the nation's second consecutive and third overall victory in the men's shot put.

Reese Hoffa took bronze to keep the American podium streak going at eight consecutive Games.

(2009 World Champion) Christian Cantwell came within 4 cm of grabbing the bronze medal from his American teammate in the final round, then Majewski put a cap on his victory with the best throw in the competition 21.89 on the final throw.

[3] Majewski is the first to repeat as champion since Parry O'Brien in 1956, with Ralph Rose from 1908 the only other, and the first non-American to do that.

The top five finishers from 2008 returned: Tomasz Majewski of Poland, Christian Cantwell of the United States, Andrei Mikhnevich of Belarus (whose bronze medal would later be stripped and reassigned to Armstrong), Dylan Armstrong of Canada, and Pavel Lyzhyn of Belarus (also later disqualified), along with original seventh-place finisher Reese Hoffa of the United States and original ninth-place finisher Rutger Smith of the Netherlands.

Those four men, along with the other Americans (Hoffa and Ryan Whiting, the 2012 indoor world champion) were the favored contenders.

The United States made its 26th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.