The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin.
Kirsten Münchow is a German hammer thrower who won the Olympic bronze medal in 2000 with a personal best throw of 69.28 metres.
Matthew John McGrath was a member of the Irish American Athletic Club, the New York Athletic Club, and the New York City Police Department. At the time of his death at age 64, he attained the rank of Police Inspector, and during his career received the NYPD's Medal of Valor twice. He competed for the U.S. team in the Olympics in 1908, 1912, 1920 and 1924. In his prime, he was known as "one of the world's greatest weight throwers."
Lance Earl Deal is a former American athlete who won a silver medal in the hammer throw in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. He also competed in the 1988, 1992, and 2000 Summer Olympics.
Betty Heidler is a retired German track and field athlete who competed in the hammer throw. She held the world record from 2011 until 2014 with her personal best throw of 79.42 m. She is the 2012 Olympic silver medallist, the 2007 World champion and the 2009 and 2011 World Championship silver medallist. She also finished fourth in the Olympic finals in 2004 and 2016.
Markus Esser is a retired German hammer throw. His personal best is 81.10 metres, achieved in July 2006 in Leverkusen. This ranks him eighth among German hammer throwers, behind Ralf Haber, Heinz Weis, Karsten Kobs, Günther Rodehau, Holger Klose, Christoph Sahner and Klaus Ploghaus.
Klaus Dieter Ploghaus was a West German hammer thrower. He was born in Gelnhausen, Hesse.
Karl-Hans Riehm is a former West German hammer thrower.
Sverre Gunnar Strandli was a Norwegian hammer thrower, who won the gold medal at the European Championships in 1950 and the silver medal in 1954.
The men's hammer throw at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea had an entry list of 30 competitors from 16 nations, with two qualifying groups before the final (12) took place on Monday September 26, 1988. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. In the final round the eight highest-ranked competitors after three rounds qualified for the final three throws to decide the medals. The event was won by Sergey Litvinov of the Soviet Union, the nation's sixth victory in the event. The Soviet team completed the medal sweep, with Yuriy Sedykh taking silver and Jüri Tamm bronze. It was the Soviets' third medal sweep in four Games, with only the boycotted 1984 Games missing. The 1988 team was the same as the 1980 squad, with Litvinov and Sedykh trading places. Litvinov and Tamm were the ninth and tenth men to earn multiple medals in the hammer throw, while Sedykh became the fourth to win three medals; his two golds and a silver trailed only John Flanagan's three gold medals in Olympic success.
Gerhard Günther Rodehau is a retired East German hammer thrower.
Eileen O'Keeffe is a former female hammer thrower from Ireland. Her personal best throw of 73.21 metres, achieved in July 2007 at the national championships in Dublin, is the Irish record for the event. Over her career, she represented Ireland at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, competed three times at the World Championships in Athletics, and took part in the European Athletics Championships on two occasions. She won nine consecutive national hammer titles and also six titles in the discus throw.
Anita Włodarczyk is a Polish hammer thrower. She is the 2012, 2016 and 2020 Olympic champion, and the first woman in history to throw the hammer over 80 m; she currently holds the women's world record of 82.98 m. She is considered the greatest women's hammer thrower of all time.
Silvia Salis is a hammer thrower from Italy.
Lawrence "Larry" Thomas Hart is an American athlete who won the gold medal in the men's hammer throw event at the 1975 Pan American Games. He set his personal best on June 11, 1976, at a meet in Westwood, Los Angeles, California.
The men's hammer throw at the 2000 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program was held at the ANZ Stadium on Saturday, 23 September and Sunday, 24 September. There were 44 competitors from 24 nations. The event was won by Szymon Ziółkowski of Poland, the nation's first victory in the event and first medal of any color in the men's hammer throw since 1960. Silver went to Nicola Vizzoni, the first medal winner in the event for Italy. Igor Astapkovich, who had won a silver medal on the Unified Team in 1992, took bronze for the first medal credited to Belarus in the event. Astapkovich was the 11th man to win multiple medals in the hammer throw.
Thomas Lewis Gage was an American Hammer Thrower from Billings, Montana. Gage graduated from Cornell University in 1965. During the late 1960s to the early 1970s he was in the top 10 among American hammer throwers for 10 years including achieving number 1 in 1972. He won the gold medal at the 1967 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and was a finalist in the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany, ultimately finishing 12th. His personal best was 71.17, set in 1971.
The men's hammer throw field event at the 1972 Summer Olympics took place on September 4 & 7. There were 31 competitors from 17 nations. 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.
Vyacheslav Korovin is a Russian former track and field athlete who competed in the hammer throw for the Soviet Union. He ranks within the all-time top thirty for the event, as of 2016.
Camillo Zemi was an Italian discus thrower and hammer thrower who competed at the 1924 Summer Olympics, and at the 1928 Summer Olympics.
West Germany 
