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

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

. There were 37 competitors from 22 nations, with twelve athletes reaching the final. 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 76.50 metres. The event was won by Balázs Kiss of Hungary, the nation's first victory in the men's hammer throw since 1968 and fourth overall (third-most behind the United States's seven and the Soviet Union's six).

Lance Deal Lance Earl Deal (born August 21, 1961 in Riverton, Wyoming) is a former American athlete who won a silver medal in the hammer throw in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. He also competed in the 1988, 1992, and 2000 Summer Olympics. ...

earned the United States' first medal in the event since 1956 with his silver.

Oleksandr Krykun Oleksandr Volodymyrovych Krykun ( uk, Олександр Володимирович Крикун; born 1 March 1968 in Leipzig, Sachsen) is a former Ukrainian hammer thrower. At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and ...

's bronze gave Ukraine a medal in its debut as an independent nation.

Background

This was the 22nd appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1896. Seven of the 12 finalists from the 1992 Games returned: silver medalist Igor Astapkovich of the Unified Team (now competing for Belarus), fifth-place finisher (and 1980 and 1988 bronze medalist)

Jüri Tamm Jüri Tamm (5 February 1957 – 22 September 2021) was an Estonian hammer thrower and politician. Representing the USSR, he won a bronze medal in the 1980 and 1988 Summer Olympics and a silver medal at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics. ...

of Estonia, sixth-place finisher (and 1988 finalist)

Heinz Weis Heinz Weis (born 14 July 1963) is a male former hammer thrower from Germany. He competed for West Germany until 1990. Weis was born in Trier, Rhineland-Palatinate, and at club level represented TV 1863 Germania Trier. He was coached initially b ...

of Germany, seventh-place finisher

of the United States, eighth-place finisher Sean Carlin of Australia, tenth-place finisher Christophe Epalle of France, and eleventh-place finisher Enrico Sgrulletti of Italy. Reigning Olympic champion and two-time reigning (1993 and 1995) world champion Andrey Abduvaliyev of Tajikistan did not compete. Astapkovich had been runner-up to Abduvaliyev at both world championships as well as the 1992 Games. Belarus, the Czech Republic, Russia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan each made their debut in the event. The United States appeared for the 21st 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 76.50 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. 93.

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

Eastern Daylight Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small p ...

( UTC-4)

Results

Qualifying

Final

Deal and Sgrulletti were tied for 8th after three throws; rather than use the second-best-throw tie-breaker (which Sgrulletti would have won), the rules allowed both to continue with three additional throws. Deal took advantage with a strong final throw, nearly catching Kiss and earning the silver medal.

References

External links

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Official Report
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hammerthrow.wz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics - Men's hammer throw H Hammer throw at the Olympics Men's events at the 1996 Summer Olympics