The men's hammer throw was an event at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. There were 37 competitors from 22 nations, with twelve athletes reaching the final. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The eight highest-ranked competitors after three rounds qualified for the final three throws to decide the medals. The qualification mark was set at 76.50 metres. The event was won by Balázs Kiss of Hungary, the nation's first victory in the men's hammer throw since 1968 and fourth overall (third-most behind the United States's seven and the Soviet Union's six). Lance Deal earned the United States' first medal in the event since 1956 with his silver. Oleksandr Krykun's bronze gave Ukraine a medal in its debut as an independent nation.

Background This was the 22nd appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1896. Seven of the 12 finalists from the 1992 Games returned: silver medalist Igor Astapkovich of the Unified Team (now competing for Belarus), fifth-place finisher (and 1980 and 1988 bronze medalist) Jüri Tamm of Estonia, sixth-place finisher (and 1988 finalist) Heinz Weis of Germany, seventh-place finisher Lance Deal of the United States, eighth-place finisher Sean Carlin of Australia, tenth-place finisher Christophe Epalle of France, and eleventh-place finisher Enrico Sgrulletti of Italy. Reigning Olympic champion and two-time reigning (1993 and 1995) world champion Andrey Abduvaliyev of Tajikistan did not compete. Astapkovich had been runner-up to Abduvaliyev at both world championships as well as the 1992 Games.

Belarus, the Czech Republic, Russia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan (the latter three having formerly competed as part of the Soviet Union and Unified Team) each made their debut in the event. The United States appeared for the 21st time, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Competition format The competition used the two-round format introduced in 1936, with the qualifying round completely separate from the divided final. In qualifying, each athlete received three attempts; those recording a mark of at least 76.50 metres advanced to the final. If fewer than 12 athletes achieved that distance, the top 12 would advance. The results of the qualifying round were then ignored. Finalists received three throws each, with the top eight competitors receiving an additional three attempts. The best distance among those six throws counted.Official Report, vol. 3, p. 93.

Records Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

Schedule All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)

Date Time Round Saturday, 27 July 1996 11:30 Qualifying Sunday, 28 July 1996 15:45 Final

Results Qualifying Rank Athlete Nation 1 2 3 Distance Notes 1 Lance Deal 75.10 76.34 78.56 78.56 2 Igor Astapkovich 76.00 78.52 — 78.52 3 Balázs Kiss X 78.34 — 78.34 4 Heinz Weis 75.16 77.84 — 77.84 5 Szymon Ziółkowski 77.64 — — 77.64 6 Andriy Skvaruk 73.52 77.48 — 77.48 7 Enrico Sgrulletti 77.36 — — 77.36 8 Vasiliy Sidorenko 76.64 — — 76.64 9 Raphaël Piolanti 75.46 X 76.44 76.44 10 Oleksandr Krykun 73.82 75.78 75.70 75.78 11 Ilya Konovalov 74.84 75.10 75.08 75.10 12 Sergey Alay 74.94 73.60 75.10 75.10 13 Alberto Sánchez 73.16 74.22 74.82 74.82 14 Claus Dethloff 74.60 73.68 72.68 74.60 15 Vadim Khersontsev 73.62 74.00 74.48 74.48 16 Alexandros Papadimitriou 74.42 X 74.46 74.46 17 Christophe Épalle 74.22 73.42 73.98 74.22 18 Karsten Kobs 72.04 X 74.20 74.20 19 Gilles Dupray X 70.92 74.04 74.04 20 Pavel Sedláček 72.60 73.98 X 73.98 21 Aleksandr Krasko 71.82 73.74 X 73.74 22 Zsolt Németh 41.64 72.24 73.68 73.68 23 Marko Wahlman 72.60 73.50 X 73.50 24 Kevin McMahon 73.10 73.46 72.78 73.46 25 Sean Carlin 73.32 72.00 X 73.32 26 Jüri Tamm 72.14 73.16 X 73.16 27 Loris Paoluzzi 71.38 71.68 72.82 72.82 28 Adrián Annus 68.68 72.26 72.58 72.58 29 Ken Popejoy 72.08 72.46 X 72.46 30 Tore Gustafsson 70.36 71.02 X 71.02 31 Jan Bielecki X X 69.40 69.40 32 David Smith X X 69.32 69.32 33 Roman Linscheid X 68.14 66.90 68.14 34 Aqarab Abbas 65.60 X 64.34 65.60 35 Andrés Charadia 65.26 X X 65.26 36 Vitaliy Khozhatelev 64.52 X X 64.52 — Hristos Polyhroniou X X X

Final Deal fouled his first two throws; his third equaled the eighth longest throw of the competition. However, he was only in ninth place, because the other competitor had a second legal throw. The announcer initially stated that, on the basis of that tiebreaker, Deal was out of the rest of the competition. The officials corrected the error, however; IAAF rules do not call for breaking ties in this case. So Deal advanced, and on his sixth and final throw, won the silver medal behind Balázs Kiss.

Rank Athlete Nation 1 2 3 4 5 6 Distance Balázs Kiss 79.28 80.50 81.24 78.60 79.82 X 81.24 Lance Deal X X 76.94 75.62 77.26 81.12 81.12 Oleksandr Krykun 76.24 77.64 79.44 X 78.14 80.02 80.02 4 Andriy Skvaruk 74.24 X 79.92 75.80 76.56 X 79.92 5 Heinz Weis 78.78 79.30 X 78.10 78.98 79.78 79.78 6 Ilya Konovalov 76.44 77.48 77.44 77.70 76.52 78.72 78.72 7 Igor Astapkovich 76.38 78.20 X 76.62 77.38 X 78.20 8 Sergey Alay 75.46 76.68 77.38 76.50 76.38 75.78 77.38 9 Enrico Sgrulletti 76.34 76.94 75.22 76.88 74.78 76.98 76.98 10 Szymon Ziółkowski 76.30 74.90 76.64 Did not advance 76.64 11 Raphaël Piolanti 74.34 75.24 X Did not advance 75.24 12 Vasiliy Sidorenko 73.62 X 74.68 Did not advance 74.68

See also 1996 Hammer Throw Year Ranking

References

External links Official Report Results hammerthrow.wz