Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's hammer throw

The men's hammer throw field event at the 1972 Summer Olympics took place on September 4 & 7.[1][2] There were 31 competitors from 17 nations.[3] 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).

Men's hammer throw
at the Games of the XX Olympiad
Card depicting Anatoliy Bondarchuk
VenueOlympic Stadium
DatesSeptember 4 & 7
Competitors31 from 17 nations
Winning distance75.50 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Anatoliy Bondarchuk
 Soviet Union
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Jochen Sachse
 East Germany
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Vasiliy Khmelevskiy
 Soviet Union
← 1968
1976 →

Background

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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.[3]

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

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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 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.[3][4]

Records

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Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:[5]

World record   Walter Schmidt (FRG) 76.40 Lahr, Germany 4 September 1971
Olympic record   Gyula Zsivótzky (HUN) 73.63 Mexico City, Mexico 17 October 1968

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

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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

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All throwers reaching 66.00 m (216 ft 6+12 in) and the top 12 including ties advanced to the finals. All qualifiers are shown in blue. All distances are listed in metres.

Qualifying

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

Final

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

References

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  1. ^ "Official report of the Games of the XXth Olympiad - part 3" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  2. ^ "Athletics at the 1972 Munich Summer Games: Men's Hammer Throw". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  3. ^ a b c "Hammer Throw, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  4. ^ Official Report, vol. 3, p. 63.
  5. ^ The Athletics Site: world record progression - hammer throw men
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