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.
The men's hammer weighs 7.26 kilograms (16.0lb) and the women's weighs 4kg (8.8lb), with the wire in either case no more than 122 centimetres (48in) 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 further 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 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 long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a group are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". This event has a history in the ancient Olympic Games and has been a modern Olympic event for men since the first Olympics in 1896 and for women since 1948.
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.
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.
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 female hammer thrower of all time.
The men's hammer throw at the 2019 World Athletics Championships was held at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, from 1 to 2 October 2019.
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Yuriy Sedykh 86.74 m (284 ft 6 in) (1986)
Anita Włodarczyk 82.98 m (272 ft 2 in) (2016)
Ivan Tsikhan 83.63 m (274 ft 4 in) (2007)
