© Stade de France ®
Macary, Zublena et Regembal
Costantini - Architects
ADAGP - Paris - 2002
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COMPETITION  EVENTS |
 A SUBTLE BLEND OF RHYTHM AND BRUTE FORCE
Paris 2003 Saint-Denis
The hammer has always been a singular athletic discipline; one that is universally admired by the purists and yet generally misunderstood by the public at large. The men and women who finish on the victory podium will have to employ just the right combination of strength, timing, speed and skill.
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A bit of hammer history
Hammer throwing can be dated back to the Middle Ages, when it was invented to meet the physical education demands of young princes in Ireland. A basic blacksmith’s sledgehammer was used back then, and by 1860, when the sport was played regularly at Oxford University, the hammers were made of forged iron. Hammer throwing became an Olympic event at the Paris Games of 1900, and it was Irish-born American John Flanagan who first excelled; Flanagan won gold in Paris, before retaining his Olympic title in Saint Louis in 1904 and then again at the London Olympics of 1908, where he threw 51.92m to take the title. Americans would win every gold up until 1924 before throwers from the Old Continent came into their own. It was not until the Sydney Games of 2000 that the women’s hammer throw made a belated appearance at the Olympics; Kamila Skolimowska from Poland won the first women’s gold medal with a throw of 71.16 metres, confirming Poland’s current supremacy in the event after compatriot Szymon Ziolkowski’s gold-medal winning throw of 80.02 metres in the men’s event.
How to throw the hammer
The best throwers are those who make the hammer a virtual extension of their own body and harmonise the three phases inherent in the throwing action: the preparation and seizing of the handle; the balance that centres the athlete, provides direction and establishes rhythm; and the turns that are so dependent on timing and speed. Upon release, the hammer (which weighs 7.260 kg for men and 4 kg for women) can reach speeds up to 90 km/h before landing some 60-80 metres away.
The greatest hammer throwers of all time
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Harold Connolly (USA): Harold Connolly’s ten-year reign over a host of excellent European throwers began in1956 when he won Olympic gold in Melbourne. In all, the American broke the world record on no less than 7 occasions, and became the first athlete to throw over 70 metres (71.26 metres).
Yuriy Sedykh (USSR): The Russian is the undisputedly the greatest hammer thrower ever. Still world record holder some 17 years after setting a new best of 86.74 metres in Stuttgart in 1986, Sedykh regularly beat all-comers from the time he became Olympic Champion at the age of 21 in Montreal in 1976, right up until his World Championship triumph in 1991 in Tokyo at the ripe old age of 36.
World record holders
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Women: Mihaela Melinte (Rom) 76.07 metres
Men: Yuriy Sedykh (USSR) 86.74 metres
Schedule
Men
23 August 2003: 9am - Qualifying - Groups A and B
25 August 2003: 6pm - Final
Women
26 August 2003: 10.05am - Qualifying - Groups A and B
28 August 2003: 8.45pm - Final
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