Elite Discus Throwers – How Tall Are They?

On our recent analysis of the top 10 discus throwers in the world we received a comment asking about the height of elite discus throwers and if any of the throwers were below 6’4. We are going to analyse the height of the top 100 discus throwers of all time and the results may surprise you!

Of the 100 test subjects only 70 had listed heights on the internet.

Number of discus throwers at each height

Click on graph to view enlarged (greater resolution) version

Smallest – Lois Maikel Martinez – 1.75m (5’9)

Tallest – Christoph Harting – 2.07 (6’10)

Top 100 athletes and their height (where available)

Note that for the athletes in italics the number to the left hand side represents their world all time ranking.

All Time ranking order

1. Jurgen Schult – 1.93
2. Virgilius Alekna – 2.02
3. Gerd Kanter – 1.96
4. Yuriy Dumchev – 2.00
5. Piotr Malachowski – 1.93
6. Robert Fazekas – 1.93
7. Lars Riedl – 1.99
8. Ben Plucknett – 2.00
9. John Powell – 1.88
10. RIckard Bruch – 1.98
11. Imrich Bugar – 1.84
12. Art Burns – 1.85
13. Wolfgang Schmidt – 1.99
14. Anthony Washington – 1.85
15. Luis Delis – 1.85
16. Mac Wilkins – 1.93
17. Aleksander Tammert – 1.96
18. Robert Harting – 2.01
19. Dmitriy Shevchenko – 2.00
20. Jay Silvester – 1.91
21. Frantz Kruger – 2.03
22. Romas Ubertas – 2.03
23. Juan Martinez – 1.85
24. Zoltan Kovago – 2.02
25. John Godina – 1.93
26. Jason Young – 1.85
27. Gejza Valent – 1.84
28. Knut Hjeltnes – 1.90
29. Timo Tompuri – 1.87
30. Mario Pestano – 1.94
31. Al Oerter – 1.92
32. Ehsan Hadadi – 1.92

Continued

1. Vladimir Dubrovshchik – 1.93
2. Adam Setliff – 1.93
3. Ian Waltz – 1.88
4. Jean-Claude Retel – 1.93
5. Jarred Rome – 1.93
6. Casey Malone – 2.06
7. Martin Wierig – 2.02
8. Stefan Fernholm – 1.85
9. Lawrence Okoye – 1.97
10. Benn Harradine – 1.98
11. Jason Morgan – 1.91
12. Julian Wruck – 1.98
13. Erik De Bruin – 1.86
14. Christoph Harting – 2.07
15. Martin Maric – 1.97
16. Jennifer Frank Casinas – 1.87
17. Nick Sweeney – 1.98
18. Jason Tunks – 2.01
19. Alwin Wagner – 1.96
20. Rutger Smith – 1.97
21. Hannes Hopley – 1.80
22. Vesteinn Hafsteinsson – 1.94
23. Michael Mollenbeck – 2.00
24. Randy Heisler – 1.88
25. Marco Martino – 1.90
26. Vasili Kaptyukh – 1.97
27. Wolfgang Warnemunde – 2.02
28. Ercument Olgundeniz – 1.98
29. Andy Bloom – 1.85
30. Lois Maikel Martinez – 1.75
31. Roland Varga – 1.96
32. Erik Cadee – 2.01
33. Lukas Weisshaidinger – 1.97
34. Bogdan Pishchalnikov – 1.96
35. Jaroslav Zitnansky – 1.90
36. Gerhard Mayer – 1.91
37. Ludvik Danek – 1.93
38. Libor Malina – 1.93

From the chart the most common height of an elite discus thrower is 1.93metres.

Likewise the next most common height is 1.85metres, however there are large consistent amount of athletes that are within the range of 1.96 – 2.02 metres tall

It is interesting to note the broad range of heights of the top throwers.

What are you opinions on this?
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