Tomas Walsh earned New Zealand's first medal in the men's shot put (in the country's first appearance in the event since 1972).

In the final, the surprise find of the season Ryan Crouser set the tone with a 21.15 m on the first throw of the competition.

On the fourth throw of the competition, the home crowd got a thrill as Darlan Romani threw the Brazilian National Record 21.02 m, beating the mark he set earlier in the morning.

After dropping off four competitors and changing the throwing order, Walsh moved into the bronze medal position with a 21.36 m in the fifth round.

Then Crouser put the exclamation point on his night's work with a 22.52 m (73 ft 10+1⁄2 in), beating Ulf Timmermann's Olympic Record from 1988; the days of East German doping dominance.

The returning finalists from the 2012 Games were two-time defending gold medalist Tomasz Majewski of Poland, silver medalist David Storl of Germany, sixth-place finisher Germán Lauro of Argentina, and seventh-place finisher Asmir Kolašinac of Serbia.

[2] The British Virgin Islands, the Republic of the Congo, and Georgia each made their debut in the men's shot put.

Ryan Crouser broke the 28-year-old Olympic record with his fifth throw of the final, hitting a mark of 22.52 metres.