Martin Girvan (born 17 April 1960) is a British former
athlete
An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance.
Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...
who specialised in the
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 consis ...
. He represented both Great Britain and Northern Ireland in international competition.
Career
Girvan had a personal best throw of 77.54m, set in Wolverhampton 1984, breaking both the British and Commonwealth records. His British record stood for 31-years.
He competed 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 secon ...
in Los Angeles and finished ninth in the final. His best attempt of 72.32m was registered with his second throw.
In addition to his Olympic appearance he also won silver medals at the
1982
Events January
* January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00).
* January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...
and
1986 Commonwealth Games
The 1986 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a 'Cho-fhlaitheis 1986) were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, between 24 July and 2 August 1986. They were the second Games to be held in Edinburgh. Thirty two of the eligible fifty nine countries (largel ...
.
Claims on doping
Outspoken against drugs in sport, in the late 1980s he made allegations of drug taking and cover-up in athletics. Girvan claimed that earlier in the decade, in order to test suspicions he had, he asked British athletics official Andy Norman prior to testing at a meet in Crystal Palace that his results would be "embarrassing", which he says prompted Norman to organise for his urine sample to be switched with another.
In another allegation, Girvan stated that leading hammer thrower
Yuriy Sedykh
ukr, Юрій Георгійович Сєдих
, native_name_lang =
, years active = 1976–1995
Both Norman and Sedykh denied the allegations.
Sports Reference
Sports Reference, LLC, is an American company which operates several sports-related websites, including Sports-Reference.com, Baseball-Reference.com for baseball, Basketball-Reference.com for basketball, Hockey-Reference.com for ice hockey, Pro- ...