Men's
Discus
World Record
spikesmag player that shows WRecords
74.08m
Jurgen Schult
June 6th 1986
East German European Championship Trials
Neubrandenburg
Schult was a typical product of the East German system of the 1970s and 1980s. A promising cyclist, keen soccer player and all-round sportsman in his youth, he was enrolled at a special sports school at 14, where a series of tests ascertained that throwing was his strength. History was to prove his tutors correct.
The Eastern Bloc’s boycott of the 1984 Olympics deprived Schult of an opportunity for gold, but he proved he was the best in 1986 by smashing the world record. A strong headwind made things tricky and Schult managed to register only two of his six throws — but one of those was measured at 74.08m, a colossal 2.22m better than the old mark.
Schult won Olympic gold in 1988, took silver in 1992 and was still competing in 2000 when, at the age of 40, he finished a creditable eighth.
Women's
Discus
World Record
spikesmag player that shows WRecords
76.80m
Gabriele Reinsch
July 9th 1988
East Germany v Italy International Meet
Neubrandenburg
This is the only event in which the world record for women is greater than the men’s mark. (The women’s 1kg discus is half the mass of the men’s.) Gabriele Reinsch had a phenomenal year in 1988. The East German began the season with a personal best of 67.18m. By July she was throwing nearly 10m further — and breaking the world record in process — with a new mark of 76.80m. Two months later, Reinsch’s great rival Martina Hellmann, another East German, who was to win Olympic gold in 1988, threw 76.92m and 78.14m. These distances could not be counted as a world record, however, as they were achieved at an unofficial training meet in East Germany.