This article is about the event in regular track and field competitions. For the similar Highland games event with a different type of hammer, see Scottish hammer throw.
The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consists of a metal ball attached by a steel wire to a grip. These three components are each separate and can move independently. Both the size and weight of the ball vary between men's and women's events. The women's hammer weighs 4 kilograms (8.8lb) for college and professional meets while the men's hammer weighs 7.26 kilograms (16.0lb).[1]
History
Scottish hammer throw illustration from Frank R. Stockton's book Round-about Rambles in Lands of Fact and FancyIrish AmericanJohn Flanagan in the hammer throw competition at the Summer Olympics 1908 in London
The exact origins of the hammer throw are a mystery to modern historians.[citation needed] According to legend, at the Tailteann Games in Tara, Ireland, as far back as 2000 BC the Celtic warrior Culchulainn took a chariot axle with a wheel still attached and spun it around and hurled it.[2] The wheel was later replaced by a rock with a wooden handle attached.[2] A sledgehammer began to be used for the sport in Scotland and England during the Middle Ages.[2] In current times, the hammer has changed to the more modern 7.26 kg ball attached to a wire and a handle, but the Scottish Highland Games still feature the older style of hammer throw with the rock and the solid wood handle. Today the Hammer throw is one of four throwing events featured in the Olympics alongside discus, shot put, and javelin.
The men's hammer weighs 16 pounds (7.26kg) and measures 3feet 11+3⁄4inches (121.3cm) in length, and the women's hammer weighs 4kg (8.82lb) and 3ft 11in (119.4cm) in length.[3] Like the other throwing events, the competition is decided by who can throw the implement the farthest.
The throwing motion starts with the thrower swinging the hammer back-and-forth about two times to generate momentum. The thrower then makes three, four or (rarely) five full rotations using a complex heel-toe foot movement, spinning the hammer in a circular path and increasing its angular velocity with each rotation. Rather than spinning the hammer horizontally, it is instead spun in a plane that angles up towards the direction in which it will be launched. The thrower releases the hammer as its velocity is upward and toward the target.[4]
Thrower inside a hammer cage, with the markings for the throwing circle and the throwing sector visible on the ground (women's final at the 2017 European Athletics U23 Championships)
Throws are made from a throwing circle. The thrower is not allowed to step outside the throwing circle before the hammer has landed and may only enter and exit from the rear of the throwing circle. The hammer must land within a 34.92º throwing sector that is centered on the throwing circle. The sector angle was chosen because it provides a sector whose bounds are easy to measure and lay out on a field (10 metres out from the center of the ring, 6 metres across).[5][6] A violation of the rules results in a foul and the throw not being counted.[citation needed]
As of 2023[update] the men's hammer world record is held by Yuriy Sedykh, who threw 86.74m (284ft 6+3⁄4in) at the 1986 European Athletics Championships in Stuttgart, West Germany on 30 August. The world record for the women's hammer is held by Anita Włodarczyk, who threw 82.98m (272ft 2+3⁄4in) during the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial on 28 August 2016.[citation needed] Sedykh's 1986 world record has been noted for its longevity, and for dating from "a time when track and field was starting to realize the scale of performance-enhancing drug use" (AP).[7] According to Russian doping whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov, Sedykh was a heavy user of steroids, which Sedykh denied.[7]
The throwing distance depends on the velocity and height at which the hammer is released, but also on other factors that are not under the athlete's control.[8] In particular, Earth's rotation affects it via the location's latitude (due to the centrifugal force, the hammer will fly a bit further in a location closer to the equator) and to a lesser extent also via the throw's azimuth (i.e. its compass direction, due to Coriolis forces).[8] According to a 2023 study, such effects are large enough that the top 20 world-record rankings for both men and women at the time could somewhat change if they were adjusted for latitude and azimuth.[8]
Safety issues
Hammer throwing has been described as involving "inherent danger [...]. Athletes, coaches, and spectators participating in the event are at risk; steel hammers [...] are hurled through the air at great speeds, [travel] far distances, and [are] sometimes difficult to spot in flight."[9] For example, hammer throws resulted in four deaths in Europe in 2000 alone,[10] and have caused deaths and permanent brain damage injuries in the United States too.[9]
To mitigate such risks, a C-shaped "hammer cage" was introduced, which is built around the throwing circle, preventing the hammer from flying off in unwanted directions.[9] In 2004, the IAAF changed its rules to increase the mandatory height of hammer cages to 10m and reduce their "danger zone" angle to around 53°.[9] The change also moved the cage gates further away from the throwing circle, thus reducing the risk of a misdirected hammer bouncing back on the thrower.[11]
The discus throw, also known as disc throw, is a track and field sport in which the participant athlete throws an oblate spheroid weight — called a discus — in an attempt to mark a farther distance than other competitors. It is an ancient sport, as demonstrated by the fifth-century-BC Myron statue Discobolus. Although not part of the current pentathlon, it was one of the events of the ancient Greek pentathlon, which can be dated back to at least 708 BC, and it is part of the modern decathlon.
The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat for landing. Since ancient times, competitors have introduced increasingly effective techniques to arrive at the current form, and the current universally preferred method is the Fosbury Flop, in which athletes run towards the bar and leap head first with their back to the bar.
The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about 2.5 m in length, is thrown as far as possible. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon.
The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the shot—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival (1896), and women's competition began in 1948.
The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα and ἄθλος. Events are held over two consecutive days and the winners are determined by the combined performance in all. Performance is judged on a points system in each event, not by the position achieved. The decathlon is contested mainly by male athletes, while female athletes typically compete in the heptathlon.
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events. Track and field is categorized under the umbrella sport of athletics, which also includes road running, cross country running and racewalking. In British English the term "Athletics" is synonymous with American "Track and Field" and includes all jumping events.
Yuriy Georgiyevich Sedykh was a track and field athlete who represented the Soviet Union from 1976 to 1991 in the hammer throw. He was a European, World and Olympic Champion, and holds the world record with a throw of 86.74 m in 1986.
Two sports have events that fall under the name of weight throw one being the track and field event and the other being the Scottish highland games events.
Ivan Ryhoravich Tsikhan is a Belarusian hammer thrower. He is a two-time world champion and an Olympic medalist.
The hammer throw at the Summer Olympics is one of four track and field throwing events held at the multi-sport event. The men's hammer throw has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900, becoming the third Olympic throws event after the shot put and discus throw. The women's event was a much later addition, being first contested at the 2000 Olympics.
Oksana Yurevna Kondratyeva is a Russian track and field athlete competing in the hammer throw. Her personal best of 77.13 m ranks her in the all-time top ten of the event. She represented Russia at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics, placing seventh.
The Russian Athletics Federation (RAF), previously named the All-Russia Athletic Federation, is the governing body for the sport of athletics in Russia. Its president is Dmitry Shlyakhtin.
Gu Siyu is a Chinese track and field athlete who competes in the discus throw and formerly the shot put. She holds a discus personal best of 67.86 m and a shot put best of 16.59 m. She was a double Asian junior champion in 2010 and represented her country at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics.
Alexander Melei Rose is a Samoan-American athlete, competing primarily in the discus throw and occasionally in the shot put and the hammer throw. He represented Samoa at the 2016 Olympics, and 2020 Summer Olympics, as well as the Commonwealth Games and Pacific Games.
Scott Neilson is a Canadian former track and field athlete who competed in the hammer throw. His personal best was 72.72 m, set in Seattle on 1 April 1978.
Janeah Stewart is a student-athlete on the University of Mississippi women's track and field team. The four event thrower from Illinois, was awarded All-American status her first three years of college. Janeah Stewart's winning weight throw of 23.18m/76-0.75 broke the SEC meet record that had stood since 2004 and moved her up to No. 1 in the nation this year and No. 6 in NCAA history.
Navjeet Kaur Dhillon is an Indian track and field athlete who competes as a Discus thrower. Her current world ranking in the Women's Discus Throw category is 46, and in the Women's Overall ranking is 4165. She was the bronze medalist at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, with her final throw of 57.43 m and became the second Indian to win a medal at the World Junior Championships in Athletics in 2014. She holds a personal best of 59.18 m, set in 2018 in Indian Grand Prix in February, 2018.
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Yuriy Sedykh 86.74 m (1986)
Anita Włodarczyk 82.98 m (2016)
Ivan Tsikhan 83.63 m (2007)
