Stephen James Backley, OBE is a retired British track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He formerly held the world record, and his 91.46-metre (300.1 ft) throw from 1992 is the British record. During his career, he was a firm fixture in the British national athletics team. He won four gold medals at the European Championships, three Commonwealth Games gold medals, two silvers and a bronze at the Olympic Games, and two silvers at the World Championships. Currently, he is an occasional commentator for athletics competitions, especially the field events.
Andreas Thorkildsen is a retired Norwegian track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He was the Olympic Champion in 2004 and 2008, European Champion in 2006 and 2010, and World Champion in 2009. He is the first male javelin thrower in history to simultaneously be European, World and Olympic Champion. He was also a three-time silver medalist at the World Championships, placing second in 2005, 2007 and 2011. His personal best of 91.59 m, set in 2006, is the Norwegian record.
Gerd Kanter is a retired Estonian discus thrower. He was the 2007 World Champion in the event and won the gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and bronze in London 2012. His personal best throw of 73.38 m is the Estonian record and the fourth best mark of all time.
Gösta Artur Roland Pettersson is a retired Swedish cyclist. As an amateur, he competed in the individual and team road events at the 1960, 1964 and 1968 Olympics and won one silver and two bronze medals, in 1964 and 1968. In 1968 he also took part in two track events: individual and team 4000 m pursuit.
Szymon Jerzy Ziółkowski is a retired Polish hammer thrower and an Olympic gold medal winner from Sydney 2000. He also won a gold medal at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton with a career best throw of 83.38 metres, and two silvers at the 2005 and 2009 editions in Helsinki and Berlin respectively.
Robert 'Bob' Boyd Weir is a male retired English athlete, best known as a discus thrower, who was a twelve-time national champion. Weir also achieved success in hammer throw, winning Commonwealth Games gold in 1982, and competed in strongman competitions.
The men's hammer throw event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1920 Summer Olympics. The competition was held on Wednesday, August 18, 1920. 12 throwers from 5 nations competed; four from Sweden, four from the United States, two from Canada, one from Great Britain, and one from Finland. No nation had more than 4 athletes, suggesting the limit had been reduced from the 12 maximum in force in 1908 and 1912. The event was won by Patrick Ryan of the United States, the nation's fifth consecutive victory in the event. Carl Johan Lind took silver, earning Sweden's first medal in the hammer throw. Another American, Basil Bennett, earned bronze.
Vésteinn Hafsteinsson is a retired discus thrower from Iceland. He was born in Selfoss, and represented his native country at four consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1984. His personal best is 67.64 metres, thrown on 31 May 1989 in Selfoss. Vésteinn competed in five consecutive World Championships, starting in 1983, but never reached the final. He previously coached World and Olympic champion Gerd Kanter, Olympic silver medalist Joachim B. Olsen, as well Daniel Ståhl and Simon Pettersson, the gold and silver medalists at the Tokyo Olympics.
Sarah Fredrika Sjöström is a Swedish competitive swimmer specialising in the sprint freestyle and butterfly events. Sjöström is one of the most decorated swimmers in the history of swimming.
Marco Lingua is an Italian hammer thrower, writer, actor, TV personality and former weightlifter. He finished eleventh at the 2006 European Championships. He also competed at the 2008 Olympic Games without reaching the final. His personal best throw is 79.97 metres, achieved in July 2008 in Bydgoszcz. For the results of the races in detail see the displayboards below.
The men's 110 metres hurdles event at the 1928 Olympic Games took place between July 31 & August 1. Forty-one athletes from 24 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation was 4. The event was won by Sydney Atkinson of South Africa, the nation's first title in the 110 metres hurdles; Atkinson became the first man to win two medals in the event. It was only the second time the United States had not won the event; as in 1920, the Americans took silver and bronze.
Paweł Fajdek is a Polish hammer thrower, a five-time World Champion, European Champion, Olympic bronze medal winner, multiple Polish Champion and Polish men's hammer throw record holder. In 2013, he became the youngest world champion in the event. His personal best throw of 83.93 metres was achieved on 9 August 2015 at the Janusz Kusociński Memorial in Szczecin.
Julius Yego is a Kenyan track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. Nicknamed "Mr. YouTube" because he learned how to throw by watching YouTube videos of javelin athletes, Yego is the African record holder for the event with a personal best of 92.72 m.
Florent Manaudou is a French competitive swimmer, an Olympic champion of the 50-meter freestyle at the 2012 London Olympics, and the younger brother of Laure Manaudou, a 2004 Olympic gold medalist in swimming. He competes for the Energy Standard Swim Club in the International Swimming League.
Richard Dahl was a Swedish track and field athlete who competed in the high jump. His short-lived career was defined by a surprise win at the 1958 European Athletics Championships in a Swedish record of 2.12 m.
Evgeny Mikhailovich Rylov is a Russian competitive swimmer and Olympic champion specializing in backstroke events. He won three gold medals at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing, and a bronze medal at his senior international debut at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan. He also won a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and a gold medal at the 2017 World Championships in Budapest, both were in the 200 metre backstroke event. In 2018, at the 2018 World Short Course Championships, he won gold medals in the 200 metre backstroke and 50 metre backstroke. At the 2019 World Championships, he won a gold medal in the 200 metre backstroke, silver medal in the 100 metre backstroke, and silver medal in the 50 metre backstroke. He won the gold medal in the 100 metre backstroke and 200 metre backstroke at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Johannes Vetter is a German athlete who competes in the javelin throw. He won gold at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics. His personal best of 97.76 m is the German record, and ranks him second on the overall list behind Jan Železný. Vetter currently trains under Boris Obergföll and is a member of LG Offenburg's track and field squad. He was previously with SV Saar 05 Saarbrücken and Dresdner SC.
Daniel Ståhl is a Swedish athlete specialising in the discus throw. Ståhl is the Olympic champion and two-time world champion, setting the new championships record in Budapest.
Subedar Neeraj Chopra is an Indian track and field athlete, who is the reigning Olympic champion and World champion in Men's javelin throw. He is the first Asian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in javelin and the first Asian to win gold in his event at the World Championship. A Junior commissioned officer in the Indian Army, Chopra is the first track and field athlete to win a gold medal for India at the Olympics. He is also the first track and field athlete from India to win at the World Under-20 Championships, where in 2016 he achieved a world U20 record throw of 86.48 m, becoming the first Indian athlete to set a world record.
The men's discus throw event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place between 30 and 31 July 2021 at the Japan National Stadium. Approximately 35 athletes were expected to compete; the exact number depended on how many nations use universality places to enter athletes in addition to the 32 qualifying through distance or ranking. 32 athletes from 24 nations competed. Daniel Ståhl of Sweden won gold, with his countryman Simon Pettersson earning silver. It was the first victory in the event for Sweden and the first men's discus throw medal of any color for the nation since 1972. Lukas Weißhaidinger took Austria's first-ever Olympic in the men's discus with his bronze.
