Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's hammer throw

The men's hammer throw was an event at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. 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.[1] 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 earned the United States' first medal in the event since 1956 with his silver. Oleksandr Krykun's bronze gave Ukraine a medal in its debut as an independent nation.

Men's hammer throw
at the Games of the XXVI Olympiad
Olympic flag at the Centennial Olympic Stadium
VenueCentennial Olympic Stadium
Dates27 July 1996 (qualifying)
28 July 1996 (final)
Competitors37 from 22 nations
Winning distance81.24
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Balázs Kiss
 Hungary
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Lance Deal
 United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Oleksandr Krykun
 Ukraine
← 1992
2000 →

Background

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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 of Estonia, sixth-place finisher (and 1988 finalist) Heinz Weis of Germany, seventh-place finisher Lance Deal 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.[2]

Belarus, the Czech Republic, Russia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan (the latter three having formerly competed as part of the Soviet Union and Unified Team) 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

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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.[2][3]

Records

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Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record   Yuriy Sedykh (URS) 86.74 Stuttgart, West Germany 30 August 1986
Olympic record   Sergey Litvinov (URS) 84.80 Seoul, South Korea 26 September 1988

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

Schedule

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All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)

Date Time Round
Saturday, 27 July 1996 11:30 Qualifying
Sunday, 28 July 1996 15:45 Final

Results

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Qualifying

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Rank Athlete Nation 1 2 3 Distance Notes
1 Lance Deal   United States 75.10 76.34 78.56 78.56 Q
2 Igor Astapkovich   Belarus 76.00 78.52 78.52 Q
3 Balázs Kiss   Hungary X 78.34 78.34 Q
4 Heinz Weis   Germany 75.16 77.84 77.84 Q
5 Szymon Ziółkowski   Poland 77.64 77.64 Q
6 Andriy Skvaruk   Ukraine 73.52 77.48 77.48 Q
7 Enrico Sgrulletti   Italy 77.36 77.36 Q
8 Vasiliy Sidorenko   Russia 76.64 76.64 Q
9 Raphaël Piolanti   France 75.46 X 76.44 76.44 q
10 Oleksandr Krykun   Ukraine 73.82 75.78 75.70 75.78 q
11 Ilya Konovalov   Russia 74.84 75.10 75.08 75.10 q
12 Sergey Alay   Belarus 74.94 73.60 75.10 75.10 q
13 Alberto Sánchez   Cuba 73.16 74.22 74.82 74.82
14 Claus Dethloff   Germany 74.60 73.68 72.68 74.60
15 Vadim Khersontsev   Russia 73.62 74.00 74.48 74.48
16 Alexandros Papadimitriou   Greece 74.42 X 74.46 74.46
17 Christophe Épalle   France 74.22 73.42 73.98 74.22
18 Karsten Kobs   Germany 72.04 X 74.20 74.20
19 Gilles Dupray   France X 70.92 74.04 74.04
20 Pavel Sedláček   Czech Republic 72.60 73.98 X 73.98
21 Aleksandr Krasko   Belarus 71.82 73.74 X 73.74
22 Zsolt Németh   Hungary 41.64 72.24 73.68 73.68
23 Marko Wahlman   Finland 72.60 73.50 X 73.50
24 Kevin McMahon   United States 73.10 73.46 72.78 73.46
25 Sean Carlin   Australia 73.32 72.00 X 73.32
26 Jüri Tamm   Estonia 72.14 73.16 X 73.16
27 Loris Paoluzzi   Italy 71.38 71.68 72.82 72.82
28 Adrián Annus   Hungary 68.68 72.26 72.58 72.58
29 Ken Popejoy   United States 72.08 72.46 X 72.46
30 Tore Gustafsson   Sweden 70.36 71.02 X 71.02
31 Jan Bielecki   Denmark X X 69.40 69.40
32 David Smith   Great Britain X X 69.32 69.32
33 Roman Linscheid   Ireland X 68.14 66.90 68.14
34 Aqarab Abbas   Pakistan 65.60 X 64.34 65.60
35 Andrés Charadia   Argentina 65.26 X X 65.26
36 Vitaliy Khozhatelev   Uzbekistan 64.52 X X 64.52
Hristos Polyhroniou   Greece X X X NM

Final

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Deal fouled his first two throws; his third equaled the eighth longest throw of the competition. However, he was only in ninth place, because the other competitor had a second legal throw. The announcer initially stated that, on the basis of that tiebreaker, Deal was out of the rest of the competition. The officials corrected the error, however; IAAF rules do not call for breaking ties in this case. So Deal advanced, and on his sixth and final throw, won the silver medal behind Balázs Kiss.

Rank Athlete Nation 1 2 3 4 5 6 Distance
  Balázs Kiss   Hungary 79.28 80.50 81.24 78.60 79.82 X 81.24
  Lance Deal   United States X X 76.94 75.62 77.26 81.12 81.12
  Oleksandr Krykun   Ukraine 76.24 77.64 79.44 X 78.14 80.02 80.02
4 Andriy Skvaruk   Ukraine 74.24 X 79.92 75.80 76.56 X 79.92
5 Heinz Weis   Germany 78.78 79.30 X 78.10 78.98 79.78 79.78
6 Ilya Konovalov|   Russia 76.44 77.48 77.44 77.70 76.52 78.72 78.72
7 Igor Astapkovich   Belarus 76.38 78.20 X 76.62 77.38 X 78.20
8 Sergey Alay   Belarus 75.46 76.68 77.38 76.50 76.38 75.78 77.38
9 Enrico Sgrulletti   Italy 76.34 76.94 75.22 76.88 74.78 76.98 76.98
10 Szymon Ziółkowski   Poland 76.30 74.90 76.64 Did not advance 76.64
11 Raphaël Piolanti   France 74.34 75.24 X Did not advance 75.24
12 Vasiliy Sidorenko   Russia 73.62 X 74.68 Did not advance 74.68

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games: Men's Hammer Throw". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Hammer Throw, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  3. ^ Official Report, vol. 3, p. 93.
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