Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's hammer throw

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Men's hammer throw
at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
Hammer Throw, Connolly Memorial.jpg
Hal Connolly memorial
Venue Melbourne Cricket Ground
DatesNovember 24
Competitors22 from 14 nations
Winning distance63.19 OR
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Hal Connolly
US flag 48 stars.svg  United States
Silver medal icon.svg Mikhail Krivonosov
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union
Bronze medal icon.svg Anatoli Samotsvetov
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union
  1952
1960  
Video on YouTube Official Video @1:09:20 TV-icon-2.svg
Video on YouTube Official Video @1:09:20

The men's hammer throw was an event at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. The qualifying round and the final both were held on Saturday November 24, 1956. [1] There were 22 competitors from 14 nations. [2] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by American Hal Connolly, the nation's first victory in the event since 1924 and seventh overall. Mikhail Krivonosov (silver) and Anatoli Samotsvetov (bronze) earned the Soviet Union's first medals in the event.

Background

This was the 12th appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1896. Four of the 25 finalists from the 1952 Games returned: gold medalist József Csermák of Hungary, seventh-place finisher Sverre Strandli of Norway, twenty-first-place finisher Peter Allday of Great Britain, and Mikhail Krivonosov of the Soviet Union, who had failed to set a legal mark in the final. Krivonosov had become one of the best hammer throwers in the world between the Games, winning the European championship and breaking the world record seven times. Krivonosov held the world record for almost two years, improving it almost 3 metres in the process. Earlier in the month, Hal Connolly had taken the world record, adding over a metre to the mark Mikhail Krivonosov had thrown just 11 days earlier. [2]

Australia and Poland each made their debut in the event. The United States appeared for the 12th time, the only nation to have competed at each appearance of the event to that point.

Summary

The leader in qualifying was Anatoli Samotsvetov. Samotsvetov took the lead with an Olympic record 62.10 metres in the first round; the three Soviets holding the medal positions. In the second round, Krivonosov improved the Olympic record to 63.00 metres. American Al Hall moved into third place with 61.83 metres to break up the Soviet bloc. In the third round, Krivonosov upped the record 3 more centimetres and Connolly moved into second with a 62.65 metres. In the fifth round, Connolly became the third person of the day to break the Olympic record, throwing the winner 63.19 m (207 ft 3 in). Samotsvetov made a final throw of 62.56 metres to secure his hold on bronze, but Krivonosov's only answers were fouls, leaving him with the silver.

In a much publicized Olympic romance, Connolly would marry Czechoslovak discus throw champion, Olga Fikotová.

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 54.00 metres advanced to the final (a significant increase from the 49.00 metres used in 1952, which resulted in 25 finalists). 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 six competitors receiving an additional three attempts. The best distance among those six throws counted. [2] [3]

Records

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

World recordFlag of the United States.svg  Hal Connolly  (USA)68.54 Los Angeles, United States 2 November 1956
Olympic recordFlag of Hungary (1949-1956).svg  József Csermák  (HUN)60.34 Helsinki, Finland 24 July 1952

Anatoli Samotsvetov was the first thrower in the final; he immediately broke the Olympic record with 62.10 metres. Mikhail Krivonosov beat that mark with 63.00 metres in the second throw, and improved the record again with 63.03 metres in the third. Hal Connolly took over the record, and won the gold medal, with 63.19 metres in the fifth throw.

Schedule

All times are Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10)

DateTimeRound
Sunday, 24 November 195610:00
14:30
Qualifying
Final

Results

Qualifying

Blair, who had thrown 65.95 metres earlier in 1956, was removed from the United States team for violating amateurism rules by assisting a The Boston Globe sportswriter. [2]

RankOrderAthleteNation123DistanceNotes
11 Anatoli Samotsvetov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 59.5359.53Q
28 Krešimir Račić Flag of SFR Yugoslavia.svg  Yugoslavia 59.0659.06Q
321 Hal Connolly US flag 48 stars.svg  United States 59.0559.05Q
414 Alfons Niklas Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland 52.1158.4658.46Q
56 Tadeusz Rut Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland 58.0758.07Q
610 Jozsef Csermak Flag of Hungary (1946-1949, 1956-1957).svg  Hungary 57.9557.95Q
716 Al Hall US flag 48 stars.svg  United States 57.5057.50Q
89 Dmytro Yehorov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 57.0357.03Q
92 Sverre Strandli Flag of Norway.svg  Norway 56.3256.32Q
1015 Birger Asplund Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 55.0355.03Q
114 Peter Allday Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 54.9854.98Q
12 Guy Husson Flag of France.svg  France 54.9854.98Q
1319 Donald Anthony Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 53.1054.8954.89Q
147 Muhamad Iqbal Flag of Pakistan.svg  Pakistan 54.5954.59Q
1520 Mikhail Krivonosov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 54.5354.53Q
1618 Song Gyo-sik Flag of South Korea (1949-1984).svg  South Korea 53.30X53.7453.74
1723 Yoshio Kojima Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan 50.6753.4852.1653.48
1811 Alejandro Díaz Flag of Chile.svg  Chile X52.2351.3352.23
193 Charlie Morris Flag of Australia.svg  Australia X49.35X49.35
2022 Neville Gadsen Flag of Australia.svg  Australia XX48.8448.84
2113 Martin Crowe Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 45.7648.2548.4348.43
2217 Fumio Kamamoto Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan 40.72X44.7044.70
5Cliff BlairUS flag 48 stars.svg  United States DNS

Final

RankOrderAthleteNation123456DistanceNotes
Gold medal icon.svg15 Hal Connolly US flag 48 stars.svg  United States X60.9262.6561.7663.19 OR X63.19 OR
Silver medal icon.svg14 Mikhail Krivonosov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 60.5963.00 OR 63.03 OR XXX63.03
Bronze medal icon.svg1 Anatoli Samotsvetov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 62.10 OR 58.1361.9460.2259.2062.5662.56
412 Al Hall US flag 48 stars.svg  United States 57.7661.83X61.58X61.9661.96
58 Jozsef Csermak Flag of Hungary (1946-1949, 1956-1957).svg  Hungary 58.2758.4360.70X59.10X60.70
66 Krešimir Račić Flag of SFR Yugoslavia.svg  Yugoslavia 57.9960.36XX58.0755.0960.36
77 Dmytro Yehorov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 60.22XXDid not advance60.22
82 Sverre Strandli Flag of Norway.svg  Norway 58.6258.4959.21Did not advance59.21
93 Peter Allday Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 57.7857.0658.00Did not advance58.00
1010 Alfons Niklas Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland 57.70XXDid not advance57.70
115 Muhamad Iqbal Flag of Pakistan.svg  Pakistan 56.4555.2456.97Did not advance56.97
1213 Donald Anthony Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain X55.2256.72Did not advance56.72
139 Guy Husson Flag of France.svg  France XX55.02Did not advance55.02
144 Tadeusz Rut Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland XX53.43Did not advance53.43
11 Birger Asplund Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden XXXDid not advanceNM

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References

  1. "Athletics at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games: Men's Hammer Throw". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Hammer Throw, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  3. Official Report, p. 340.