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 ...

was an event at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. There were 23 participating athletes from 13 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The eight highest-ranked competitors after three rounds qualified for the final three throws to decide the medals. The qualification mark was set at 72.00 metres. The event was won by

Juha Tiainen Juha Tiainen (December 5, 1955 in Uukuniemi – April 27, 2003 in Lappeenranta) was a hammer thrower from Finland who won the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also ...

of Finland, the nation's first medal in the event. It was "one of the most devalued Olympic competitions ever" due to the absence of the Soviet team, which had swept the medals the last two Games and had both

Yuriy Sedykh ukr, Юрій Георгійович Сєдих , native_name_lang = , years active = 1976–1995Sergey Litvinov (1980 silver medalist and 1983 world champion over runner-up Sedykh) as two of the top throwers in the world. It was the first time since 1948 that the Olympic record was not broken. Karl-Hans Riehm of West Germany, a contender in the event and finalist in both 1972 and 1976 before being kept out of the 1980 Games due to the American-led boycott, finally earned a medal with his silver-winning performance. His compatriot

Klaus Ploghaus Klaus Dieter Ploghaus (31 January 1956 – 11 January 2022) was a West German hammer thrower. He was born in Gelnhausen, Hesse. His biggest success came at the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, United States where he won the bronze meda ...

took bronze. They were the first two medals for West Germany as a separate nation, though Germany and the United Team of Germany had each taken medals previously.

Background

This was the 19th appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1896. Three of the 12 finalists from the 1980 Games returned: seventh-place finisher

Giampaolo Urlando Giampaolo Urlando (born 7 January 1945, in Padova) is a retired Italian hammer thrower. Biography He ended up in fourth place at the 1984 Summer Olympics, but was disqualified for testosterone use. Achievements National titles Giampaolo Urlan ...

of Italy (the top-placed athlete from 1980 not from a boycotting nation), ninth-place finisher Harri Huhtala of Finland, and tenth-place finisher

of Finland. The Soviet-led boycott kept out the best throwers in the world, with Litvinov and Sedykh absent. Riehm and Tiainen were the favorites among the depleted field. Algeria and Mauritius each made their debut in the event. The United States appeared for the 18th time, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

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 72.00 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. 2, p. 288.

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows. No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

Schedule

All times are

Pacific Daylight Time The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−08:00 ...

( UTC-7)

Results

Qualifying

Final

finished fourth at 75.96 metres but the Italian athlete was subsequently disqualified as his

doping test A drug test is a technical analysis of a biological specimen, for example urine, hair, blood, breath, sweat, or oral fluid/saliva—to determine the presence or absence of specified parent drugs or their metabolites. Major applications of d ...

s proved positive.