Robert Harting

Robert Harting (German pronunciation: [ˈʁoːbɛʁt ˈhaʁtɪŋ] ; born 18 October 1984) is a retired German discus thrower. He represents the sports club SCC Berlin, his coach is Torsten Schmidt. He is a former Olympic, World, and European champion in the men's discus throw. His younger brother Christoph is the event's 2016 Olympic champion.

Biography

Harting was born in Cottbus, East Germany. He won a silver medal at the 2001 World Youth Championships. He was less successful at subsequent championships and finished in eighth in the qualifiers 2002 World Junior Championships. He took the gold medal at the 2005 European Athletics U23 Championships.

He began competing at the senior level soon after and took part in the 2006 European Championships, where he just missed the qualifying mark in the earlier round of the competition. He improved in 2007, throwing a new personal best of 66.93 m and he won the silver medal at the 2007 World Championships. He was fourth at the 2007 IAAF World Athletics Final and then was second at the European Winter Throwing Cup the following year.

He threw a personal best of 68.65 m in Kaunas in June and was selected for the German team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He finished fourth with a throw of 67.09 m. He closed the season with a bronze medal at the 2008 IAAF World Athletics Final.

At the Berlin 2009 World Championships, Harting was sitting in the silver medal position coming into the 6th round of the final, he then threw a personal best of 69.43 metres to gain the lead and ultimately win the gold medal. The final remaining competitor and leader since the 1st round, Polish athlete Piotr Małachowski, was unable to better the German's throw.