Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Men's hammer throw

The men's hammer throw was an event at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. There were 27 participating athletes from 19 nations.[1] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress.

Men's hammer throw
at the Games of the XXV Olympiad
Soviet stamp commemorating 1992 Olympic athletics
VenueEstadi Olímpic Lluís Companys
DatesAugust 1, 1992 (1992-08-01) (qualifying)
August 2, 1992 (1992-08-02) (final)
Competitors27 from 19 nations
Winning distance82.54
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Andrey Abduvaliyev
 Unified Team
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Igor Astapkovich
 Unified Team
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Igor Nikulin
 Unified Team
← 1988
1996 →

In this Olympics, the Unified Team comprised some of the republics of the former Soviet Union. Andrey Abduvaliyev from Tajikistan, Igor Astapkovich from Belarus, and Igor Nikulin from Russia created a sweep for the Unified Team. It was the fourth sweep in five Games for Soviet/Unified Team athletes; only the boycotted 1984 Games broke the consistent dominance of the Soviets.

The three dominated the competition in the late 80s and early 90s. Astapkovich, the strongest in the season, held the lead after the first round and retook it in the third. Abduvaliyev settled it with his fourth round throw 82.54 m (270 ft 9+12 in) while both Astapkovich and Nikulin hit their best throws in the final round, they could not match it.

Background

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This was the 21st appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1896. Six of the 12 finalists from the 1988 Games returned: two-time bronze medalist Jüri Tamm of the Soviet Union (now competing for independent Estonia), fifth-place finisher Heinz Weis of West Germany (now competing for united Germany), sixth-place finisher Tibor Gécsek of Hungary, eighth-place finisher Ivan Tanev of Bulgaria, tenth-place finisher Johann Lindner of Austria, and eleventh-place finisher Tore Gustafsson of Sweden. The Soviet trio that had swept the Olympic medals in both 1980 and 1988, and won the World Championships in 1983 (Sergey Litvinov), 1987 (Litvinov), and 1991 (Yuriy Sedykh), had been replaced by new throwers on the Unified Team, though Tamm continued to compete for Estonia (which was not part of the Unified Team). The new team, led by 1990 European champion Andrey Abduvaliyev, was still dominant and heavily favored.[2]

Bahrain, the People's Republic of China, and Lithuania each made their debut in the event. Some former Soviet Republics competed as the Unified Team; others (Lithuania and Estonia, appearing independently for the first time since 1936) competed separately. The United States appeared for the 20th 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 76.00 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.[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 Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)

Date Time Round
Saturday, 1 August 1992 9:25 Qualifying
Sunday, 2 August 1992 18:55 Final

Results

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Qualifying

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Rank Athlete Nation 1 2 3 Distance Notes
1 Igor Nikulin   Unified Team 74.20 79.08 79.08 Q
2 Andrey Abduvaliyev   Unified Team 78.82 78.82 Q
3 Jud Logan   United States 78.40 78.40 Q, DPG[2]
4 Jüri Tamm   Estonia 71.76 75.24 78.16 78.16 Q
5 Lance Deal   United States X 75.58 77.00 77.00 Q
6 Igor Astapkovich   Unified Team 76.50 76.50 Q
7 Tibor Gécsek   Hungary 76.48 76.48 Q
8 Christophe Épalle   France 76.24 76.24 Q
9 Sean Carlin   Australia 74.48 74.38 75.90 75.90 q
10 Enrico Sgrulletti   Italy 75.40 75.40 X 75.40 q
11 Johann Lindner   Austria 75.28 75.24 74.02 75.28 q
12 Heinz Weis   Germany 74.86 74.64 X 74.86 q
13 Bi Zhong   China 70.66 X 74.30 74.30
14 Savvas Saritzoglou   Greece X 73.06 74.16 74.16
15 Claus Dethloff   Germany 73.12 73.64 73.36 73.64
16 Tore Gustafsson   Sweden 73.52 X 71.92 73.52
17 Raphaël Piolanti   France X 73.22 71.98 73.22
18 Ivan Tanev   Bulgaria 70.20 71.16 72.62 72.62
19 Frédéric Kuhn   France 71.20 71.76 71.64 71.76
20 Andrés Charadia   Argentina 70.82 70.64 X 70.82
21 Benjaminas Viluckis   Lithuania 70.54 X 70.54 70.54
22 Plamen Minev   Bulgaria 68.78 X 69.90 69.90
23 Paul Head   Great Britain X 69.58 65.64 69.58
24 Kenneth Flax   United States 69.04 X 69.36 69.36
25 Pavel Sedláček   Czechoslovakia 67.76 64.98 67.34 67.76
26 Waleed Al-Bekheet   Kuwait X X 63.94 63.94
27 Rashid Riyadh Al-Ameeri   Bahrain X X 56.08 56.08

Final

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Rank Athlete Nation 1 2 3 4 5 6 Distance Notes
  Andrey Abduvaliyev   Unified Team 78.56 80.18 80.34 82.54 79.12 82.24 82.54
  Igor Astapkovich   Unified Team 80.02 X 81.80 78.08 81.70 81.96 81.96
  Igor Nikulin   Unified Team 78.46 78.56 X 78.32 80.44 81.38 81.38
4 Tibor Gécsek   Hungary 77.78 75.78 X 75.54 X 76.58 77.78
5 Jüri Tamm   Estonia 76.36 77.00 X 76.80 75.82 77.52 77.52
6 Heinz Weis   Germany 76.72 X 76.90 X 75.32 76.28 76.90
7 Lance Deal   United States X 76.84 74.92 X 75.06 76.42 76.84
8 Sean Carlin   Australia 75.08 76.16 75.10 Did not advance 76.16
9 Johann Lindner   Austria 75.14 73.36 74.26 Did not advance 75.14
10 Christophe Epalle   France 74.24 74.84 74.74 Did not advance 74.84
11 Enrico Sgrulletti   Italy 72.98 72.34 X Did not advance 72.98
Jud Logan   United States 79.00 78.44 X X X 75.80 79.00 DPG[2]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Games: Men's Hammer Throw". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d "Hammer Throw, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  3. ^ Official Report, vol. 5, p. 51.
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