The men's hammer throw field event at the 1972 Summer Olympics 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 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 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) Gyula Zsivótzky of Hungary, fourth-place finisher (who lost the bronze on a tie-breaker) Takeo Sugawara 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 of Japan. Anatoliy Bondarchuk 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:

Anatoliy Bondarchuk'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 (UTC+1)

Date Time Round Monday, 4 September 1972 10:30 Qualifying Thursday, 7 September 1972 14:00 Final

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

Rank Athlete Nation Group 1 2 3 Distance Notes 1 Anatoliy Bondarchuk B 72.88 — — 72.88 2 Gyula Zsivótzky B 71.20 — — 71.20 3 Reinhard Theimer A 70.66 — — 70.66 4 Vasiliy Khmelevskiy A 70.00 — — 70.00 5 Jochen Sachse B 69.94 — — 69.94 6 Strećko Štiglić A 65.52 69.60 — 69.60 7 Tom Gage B 65.32 65.14 69.40 69.40 8 Mario Vecchiato A 68.12 — — 68.12 9 Jacques Accambray B 68.00 — — 68.00 10 Karl-Hans Riehm A 64.44 67.64 — 67.64 11 István Encsi A 67.38 — — 67.38 12 Shigenobu Murofushi B 65.94 67.26 — 67.26 13 Stavros Moutaftsidis A 67.22 — — 67.22 14 Edwin Klein A 67.14 — — 67.14 15 Uwe Beyer B 67.04 — — 67.04 16 Peter Sternad B X 66.74 — 66.74 17 Iosyp Hamskiy B X X 66.72 66.72 18 Takeo Sugawara A 65.94 64.56 66.50 66.50 19 Sándor Eckschmiedt B 66.44 — — 66.44 20 Barry Williams A X 66.32 — 66.32 21 Todor Manolov B X X 65.62 65.62 22 Al Schoterman A 65.18 63.74 64.06 65.18 23 Stanisław Lubiejewski A 60.34 64.80 X 64.80 24 Howard Payne B 63.58 64.56 64.10 64.56 25 Yoshihisa Ishida B 63.00 63.82 X 63.82 26 Georgios Georgiadis B 63.58 X X 63.58 27 George Frenn A 57.28 62.14 58.86 62.14 28 William Silen B X X 62.02 62.02 29 Vladimir Prikhodko A 60.80 61.78 59.58 61.78 30 José Alberto Vallejo B X 60.08 X 60.08 31 Darwin Piñeyrúa A 59.84 X 58.50 59.84 — Jorge Nuñez B

Final

Rank Athlete Nation 1 2 3 4 5 6 Distance Notes Anatoliy Bondarchuk 75.50 72.62 71.76 73.78 73.50 72.90 75.50 Jochen Sachse 71.54 X 73.70 71.26 X 74.96 74.96 Vasiliy Khmelevskiy 68.82 71.62 74.04 68.16 X X 74.04 4 Uwe Beyer 70.32 71.52 X 68.98 69.90 X 71.52 5 Gyula Zsivótzky 71.38 70.44 70.48 X 70.66 70.20 71.38 6 Sándor Eckschmiedt 71.20 X 67.26 69.24 67.90 68.86 71.20 7Edwin Klein 71.14 X X 69.70 70.26 X 71.14 8Shigenobu Murofushi 69.36 70.88 70.32 65.70 69.08 68.54 70.88 9Mario Vecchiato X 69.46 70.58 Did not advance 70.58 10Karl-Hans Riehm 70.12 68.98 69.44 Did not advance 70.12 11István Encsi 66.32 69.82 70.06 Did not advance 70.06 12Tom Gage 66.94 69.50 X Did not advance 69.50 13Reinhard Theimer X 69.16 X Did not advance 69.16 14Strećko Štiglić 67.60 68.34 67.60 Did not advance 68.34 15Stavros Moutaftsidis 68.14 68.30 67.04 Did not advance 68.30 16Barry Williams 68.18 66.56 X Did not advance 68.18 17Peter Sternad 65.60 65.94 66.64 Did not advance 66.64 18Iosyp Hamskiy 66.26 X 65.34 Did not advance 66.26 19Jacques Accambray X 65.06 X Did not advance 65.06 20Takeo Sugawara 55.82 64.56 64.70 Did not advance 64.70

References

External links Official report