Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's hammer throw

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Men's hammer throw
at the Games of the XIX Olympiad
Gyula Zsivotzky 1967.jpg
Gyula Zsivótzky (1967)
Venue Estadio Olímpico Universitario
DatesOctober 16–17
Competitors22 from 12 nations
Winning distance73.36 OR
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Gyula Zsivótzky
Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary
Silver medal icon.svg Romuald Klim
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union
Bronze medal icon.svg Lázár Lovász
Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary
  1964
1972  

The men's hammer throw competition at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico took place on October 16–17. [1] There were 22 competitors from 12 nations. [2] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Gyula Zsivótzky of Hungary, who had taken silver in both 1960 and 1964; he was the third man to win three medals in the hammer throw (after John Flanagan and Matt McGrath. Zsivótzky defeated defending champion Romuald Klim of the Soviet Union, who earned silver this time to become the sixth man to win multiple medals in the event. Bronze went to Lázár Lovász of Hungary.

The winning margin was 8 cm which as of 2023 remains the only time the men's hammer throw was won by less than 10 cm at the Olympics.

Background

This was the 15th appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1896. Eight of the 15 finalists from the 1964 Games returned: gold medalist Romuald Klim of the Soviet Union, two-time silver medalist Gyula Zsivótzky of Hungary, bronze medalist Uwe Beyer of the United Team of Germany (now competing for West Germany), sixth-place finisher (and 1956 gold medalist and 1960 finalist) Hal Connolly of the United States, seventh-place finisher Ed Burke of the United States, eleventh-place finisher Sándor Eckschmiedt of Hungary, twelfth-place finisher (and 1956 and 1960 finalist) Albert Hall of the United States, and thirteenth-place finisher Takeo Sugawara of Japan. Klim and Zsivótzky had been favored in 1964; they were favored again in 1968. Zsivótzky had the best throw of the pair, a world record 73.76 metres, but Klim had won nine straight head-to-head matchups between the two. [2]

El Salvador and Nicaragua each made their debut in the event; East and West Germany both competed separately for the first time. The United States appeared for the 15th time, the only nation to have competed at each appearance of the event to that point.

Competition format

The competition consisted of two rounds, qualification and final. Each athlete received three throws in the qualifying round. All who achieved the qualifying distance of 66.00 metres progressed to the final. If fewer than twelve athletes achieved this mark, then the twelve furthest throwing athletes would reach the final. Each finalist was allowed three throws in last round, with the top eight athletes after that point being given three further attempts.

Records

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

World recordFlag of Hungary.svg  Gyula Zsivótzky  (HUN)73.76 Budapest, Hungary 14 September 1968
Olympic recordFlag of the Soviet Union.svg  Romuald Klim  (URS)69.74 Tokyo, Japan 18 October 1964

For the second straight Games, Gyula Zsivótzky led the qualifying round with an Olympic record throw, this time of 72.60 metres. In the final, Romuald Klim beat that record with a fourth throw of 73.28 metres to take the lead. Zsivótzky was able to answer on the fifth throw with 73.36 metres to finish with the gold medal and a new Olympic record. Lázár Lovász and Takeo Sugawara each threw 69.78 metres in the final to make four men in total surpassing the old record (but after Zsivótzky's better throw in the qualifying round, so neither ever held the record).

Schedule

All times are Central Standard Time (UTC-6)

DateTimeRound
Wednesday, 16 October 196810:00Qualifying
Thursday, 17 October 196815:00Final

Results

Qualifying

Qual. rule: qualification standard 66.00m (Q) or at least best 12 qualified (q). Hall and Connolly, both finalists in each of the last three Games, each missed the qualifying mark.

RankGroupAthleteNation123DistanceNotes
1A Gyula Zsivótzky Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 72.60 OR 72.60Q, OR
2A Lázár Lovász Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 68.9668.96Q
3B Sándor Eckschmiedt Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 68.6068.60Q
4A Helmuth Baumann Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  East Germany 68.2468.24Q
5A Reinhard Theimer Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  East Germany 65.7868.1268.12Q
6B Howard Payne Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 65.5264.8068.0668.06Q
7A Hans Fahsl Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  West Germany 65.8067.9067.90Q
8A Takeo Sugawara Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan 67.7667.76Q
9A Gennadiy Kondrashov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 67.5667.56Q
10A Ed Burke Flag of the United States.svg  United States 67.3667.36Q
11B Yoshihisa Ishida Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan 67.1667.16Q
12A Romuald Klim Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 66.8266.82Q
13A Anatoly Shchuplyakov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 64.7866.5666.56Q
14B Al Hall Flag of the United States.svg  United States X65.7058.2865.70
15B Lutz Caspers Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  West Germany X65.5464.7065.54
16A Uwe Beyer Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  West Germany 65.0264.8865.4465.44
17B Hal Connolly Flag of the United States.svg  United States XX65.0065.00
18B José Luis Martínez Flag of Spain (1945-1977).svg  Spain 60.6063.4062.8463.40
19B Ernst Ammann Civil Ensign of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Switzerland X61.4862.4062.40
20B Praveen Kumar Flag of India.svg  India X59.8060.8460.84
21B Gustavo Morales Flag of Nicaragua.svg  Nicaragua X43.8845.7645.76
22B Carlos Hasbún Flag of El Salvador.svg  El Salvador X37.0237.4637.46

Final

The tie between Lovász and Sugawara was broken by their second-best throws.

RankAthleteNation123456DistanceNotes
Gold medal icon.svg Gyula Zsivótzky Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 72.2672.4672.54X73.36 OR 72.2273.36 OR
Silver medal icon.svg Romuald Klim Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 72.2468.9672.8273.28 OR 71.1671.6473.28
Bronze medal icon.svg Lázár Lovász Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 64.76X69.78X69.38X69.782nd best
69.38
4 Takeo Sugawara Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan 67.2468.12X69.0669.7861.4069.782nd best
69.06
5 Sándor Eckschmiedt Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 67.8468.5069.46X67.6468.0869.46
6 Gennadiy Kondrashov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 69.0867.0068.6467.1067.9867.7069.08
7 Reinhard Theimer Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  East Germany 68.82X66.1668.8467.8663.5468.84
8 Helmuth Baumann Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  East Germany 65.9466.9868.26X63.76X68.26
9 Anatoly Shchuplyakov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 67.5867.7466.90Did not advance67.74
10 Howard Payne Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 65.9867.6266.58Did not advance67.62
11 Hans Fahsl Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  West Germany X64.0066.36Did not advance66.36
12 Ed Burke Flag of the United States.svg  United States X65.7265.46Did not advance65.72
13 Yoshihisa Ishida Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan 65.0463.72XDid not advance65.04

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References

  1. "Athletics at the 1968 Mexico City Summer Games: Men's Hammer Throw". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Hammer Throw, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 27 January 2021.