Rutger Smith

Rutger Smith

Rutger Smith in 2008
Personal information
Full name	Rutger Smith
Born	(1981-07-09) 9 July 1981 (age 43) Groningen, Netherlands
Height	1.97 m (6 ft 6 in)
Weight	129 kg (284 lb; 20.3 st)
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	shot put – 21.62 (2006) discus throw – 67.63 (2007) hammer throw – 60.85 (2001)
Medal record Men's athletics Representing the  Netherlands World Championships 2005 Helsinki Shot put 2007 Osaka Discus 2007 Osaka Shot put European Championships 2012 Helsinki Shot put 2006 Göteborg Shot put 2012 Helsinki Discus European Cup Winter Throwing 2008 Split Shot Put
Updated on 1 November 2008

Rutger Smith (born 9 July 1981 in Groningen) is a retired Dutch track and field athlete who competed in the shot put and discus throw. He is the first athlete to win medals at the World Championships in both events. He represented the Netherlands at the Summer Olympics in 2004, 2008 and 2012. His personal best of 21.62 m for the shot put is the Dutch national record.

In his first international competition, he won a shot put and discus double at the 1999 European Athletics Junior Championships. At the 2000 World Junior Championships he won medals in both events, and he also competed in both events at the 2004 Olympics. In 2005 he won silver medals in shot put at the European Indoor Championships and World Championships. Two years later he won the bronze medal in the discus at the 2007 World Championships and narrowly missed a shot put medal with a fourth-place finish.

A series of back problems affected his throwing after he competed at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and he did not return to competition until April 2011.^[1]

Since then he has competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics, and won a silver medal at the shot put in the 2012 European Championships.^[2] He also finished fourth in the men's discus at the same championships.^[3] This result was later upgraded to bronze after the disqualification of Zoltán Kővágó.