RIO DE JANEIRO, (Reuters) – American Michelle Carter stunned champion Valerie Adams with a throw of 20.63 metres on her final attempt to win Olympic shot put gold and deny the New Zealander a third successive title yesterday.
Adams, who would have become the first woman to have won three straight Olympic titles in an individual athletics event, was leading courtesy of her second throw of 20.42m when Carter stepped into the ring for the sixth and final time.
The world indoor champion launched the shot further than any American woman had before, giving herself two thumbs up before watching on as Adams could manage only 20.39 with the final throw of the tournament.
Adams took silver, as she did initially in London four years ago before Belarusian Nadzeya Ostapchuk was stripped of the title for a doping offence, and Anita Marton won the bronze with her final throw of 19.87, a Hungarian national record.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Cleopatra Borel placed seventh.
