Athletics at the 1981 Summer Universiade
Track events
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
400 m	men	women
800 m	men	women
1500 m	men	women
3000 m		women
5000 m	men
10,000 m	men
100 m hurdles		women
110 m hurdles	men
400 m hurdles	men	women
3000 m steeplechase	men
4×100 m relay	men	women
4×400 m relay	men	women
Road events
Marathon	men
20 km walk	men
Field events
High jump	men	women
Pole vault	men
Long jump	men	women
Triple jump	men
Shot put	men	women
Discus throw	men	women
Hammer throw	men
Javelin throw	men	women
Combined events
Heptathlon		women
Decathlon	men
v t e

The men's shot put event at the 1981 Summer Universiade was held at the Stadionul Naţional in Bucharest on 21 July 1981.^[1][2][3]

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Mike Carter  United States	Detlef Mortag  East Germany	Dalibor Vašíček  Czechoslovakia

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Result	Notes
1	Mike Carter	United States	19.98
2	Zlatan Saračević	Yugoslavia	19.93
3	Detlef Mortag	East Germany	18.76
3	Dalibor Vašíček	Czechoslovakia	18.76
5	Armin Lemme	East Germany	18.61
6	Gennadiy Mikhailov	Soviet Union	18.56
7	Luigi De Santis	Italy	18.50
8	Luigi Sintoni	Italy	18.46
9	Michael Lehmann	United States	18.22
10	Josef Kubeš	Czechoslovakia	18.19
11	Udo Gelhausen	West Germany	17.78
12	Olli Kanervisto	Finland	17.21
13	Radai Mendoza	Puerto Rico	16.19
14	Gheorghe Craciunescu	Romania	16.12
15	Amir Hamza	Pakistan	13.76
16	Tony Musa	Lebanon	12.74
17	Álvaro Alzamora	Peru	12.28
18	Joseph Salamé	Lebanon	12.19

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Result	Notes
	Mike Carter	United States	20.19
	Detlef Mortag	East Germany	19.35
	Dalibor Vašíček	Czechoslovakia	19.20
4	Gennadiy Mikhailov	Soviet Union	19.13
5	Michael Lehmann	United States	18.85
6	Luigi Sintoni	Italy	18.54
7	Josef Kubeš	Czechoslovakia	18.40
8	Luigi De Santis	Italy	18.34	[4]
9	Udo Gelhausen	West Germany	18.09
10	Olli Kanervisto	Finland	17.37
	Zlatan Saračević	Yugoslavia	DNS
	Armin Lemme	East Germany	DNS