Hal Connolly

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Harold Vincent "Hal" Connolly (born August 1, 1931 in Somerville , Massachusetts , † August 18, 2010 in Catonsville , Baltimore County , Maryland ) was an American athlete . He won the gold medal in hammer throw at the Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956 .

Life

Hal Connolly statue

Connolly originally wanted to be a boxer. However, since his left arm was shortened by nine centimeters as a result of several fractures, this could not be achieved and he decided to throw a hammer. He took part in four Olympic Games from 1956 to 1968, but could only win a medal in 1956. He won twelve national titles and improved the hammer throw world record seven times. On August 12, 1960, he was the first hammer thrower to exceed the 70-meter mark with a throwing distance of 70.33 meters.

His marriage to the Czechoslovak discus thrower Olga Fikotová in October 1957, whom he met at the 1956 Olympic Games, caused a sensation . The marriage ended in divorce in 1973 (according to other sources: 1975). Hal Connolly later married middle-distance runner and pentathlete Pat Daniels .

Hal Connolly was 1.83 m tall and weighed 106 kg during his playing days. After his athletic career, he worked as a teacher, he also worked for the Special Olympics and ran a hammer throw website. In 1999 he admitted to having doped while playing. In 2005 a statue was erected in front of his former school showing Connolly throwing a hammer. He was also inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame .

Olympic placements

literature

  • Ekkehard zur Megede : The Modern Olympic Century 1896-1996 Track and Field Athletics. Berlin 1999.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Frank Litsky: Harold Connolly, Who Beat Odds in Olympics and romance, this at 79. In: The New York Times. August 19, 2010, accessed April 7, 2011 .
  2. ^ "Harold Connolly - world record with a shortened arm", Sport-Bild from June 26, 1996, p. 38
  3. ^ Doping in top-class sport. Sports science analyzes of national and international performance development. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 28, 2007 ; Retrieved April 7, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.thema-doping.de
  4. ↑ Martin Lauer: Doping and old hats. In: WELT ONLINE. August 4, 2006, accessed April 7, 2011 .
  5. ↑ Volker Kluge : Doping (Part II). In: RUN TIME. Retrieved April 7, 2011 .
personal data
SURNAME Connolly, Hal
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Connolly, Harold Vincent (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American athlete
DATE OF BIRTH August 1, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Somerville , Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH August 18, 2010
Place of death Catonsville , Baltimore County , Maryland