Ehsan Hadadi of Iran scored an Asian record 69.12 metres to win the discus throw on countback on Sunday at the Golden League athletics series opener, dpa reported.
Hadadi won due to a better second-best result over Olympic champion Virgilijus Alekna of Lithuania (68.30m to Alekna's 66.66m), who also had 69.12m.
"I m not surprised, my training went well," said Hadadi, who trains in Tehran and in Russia. "Now I still have one competition in Tallinn on Tuesday and afterwards back to Olympic preparation. To win the Olympics (August 8-24 in Beijing) is my biggest dream."
Stars who were due to compete later in the day in the Olympic stadium included 400m world and Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner of the US; Panama long-jump world champion Irving Saladino and Croatian high jump world champion Blanka Vlasic.
The Golden League series offering a 1-million-dollar jackpot consists of six stops, with Oslo following Berlin on June 6. The Rome and Paris stops follow on July 11 and 18, respectively, before the series concludes after the Beijing Olympics in Zurich (August 29) and Brussels (September 5).
Athletes who win their event at all six stops are eligible for the jackpot. If no one achieves that sweep, 500,000 dollars are available to be won or shared by five-time winners.