The men's

hammer throw The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin. The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consist ...

field event at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

took place on September 4 & 7. There were 31 competitors from 17 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by

Anatoliy Bondarchuk Anatoly (russian: Анато́лий, Anatólij , uk, Анато́лій, Anatólij ) is a common Russian and Ukrainian male given name, derived from the Greek name ''Anatolios'', meaning "sunrise." Other common Russian transliterations are Ana ...

of the Soviet Union, the nation's third victory in the men's hammer throw. Fellow Soviet Vasiliy Khmelevskiy took bronze. Silver went to Jochen Sachse of East Germany, the nation's first medal in the event. The Soviet Union's medal streak in the event extended to five Games, while Hungary's ended after three Games (three-time medalist

Gyula Zsivótzky Gyula Zsivótzky (25 February 1937 – 29 September 2007) was a Hungarian hammer thrower. He won a gold medal at the 1968 Olympics, silvers in 1960 and 1964, and finished fifth in 1972. Zsivótzky set two world record: one in 1965 and the othe ...

finished fifth this time).

Background

This was the 16th appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1896. Six of the 13 finalists from the 1968 Games returned: gold medalist (and 1960 and 1964 silver medalist)

of Hungary, fourth-place finisher (who lost the bronze on a tie-breaker)

Takeo Sugawara is a Japanese former hammer thrower who competed in the 1960 Summer Olympics, in the 1964 Summer Olympics, in the 1968 Summer Olympics, and in the 1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Oly ...

of Japan, fifth-place finisher (and 1964 finalist) Sándor Eckschmiedt of Hungary, seventh-place finisher Reinhard Theimer of East Germany, tenth-place finisher Howard Payne of Great Britain, and thirteenth-place finisher

Yoshihisa Ishida is a retired shot putter and hammer throw The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin. The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of ...

of Japan.

of the Soviet Union was the 1969 European Champion and the favorite in the event. Bulgaria and Uruguay each made their debut in the event. The United States appeared for the 16th time, the only nation to have competed at each appearance of the event to that point.

Competition format

The competition used the two-round format introduced in 1936, with the qualifying round completely separate from the divided final. In qualifying, each athlete received three attempts; those recording a mark of at least 66.00 metres advanced to the final. If fewer than 12 athletes achieved that distance, the top 12 would advance. The results of the qualifying round were then ignored. Finalists received three throws each, with the top eight competitors receiving an additional three attempts. The best distance among those six throws counted.Official Report, vol. 3, p. 63.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:The Athletics Site: world record progression - hammer throw men
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's first throw of the final went 75.50 metres for a new Olympic record; nobody was able to better it. The other two medalists, Jochen Sachse and Vasiliy Khmelevskiy, beat the old record but not Bondarchuk's new one.

Schedule

All times are

Central European Time Central European Time (CET) is a standard time which is 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The time offset from UTC can be written as UTC+01:00. It is used in most parts of Europe and in a few North African countries. CET ...

(

UTC+1 UTC+01:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +01:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2019-02-07T23:28:34+01:00. This time is used in: *Central European Time *West Africa Time *Western European Summer Time **B ...

)

Results

All throwers reaching and the top 12 including ties advanced to the finals. All qualifiers are shown in blue. All distances are listed in metres.

Qualifying

Final

References

External links

Official report
{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics - Men's hammer throw Men's hammer throw Hammer throw at the Olympics Men's events at the 1972 Summer Olympics