1908 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Hammer Throw (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	Hammer throw
gender	Men
place	White City Stadium
Attendees	19 athletes from 8 countries
Competition phase	July 14, 1908
Medalist
gold	John Flanagan ( USA )
silver	Matt McGrath ( USA )
bronze	Con Walsh ( CAN )

The hammer throw of the men at the 1908 Olympic Games in London on July 14, 1908 in White City Stadium decided. On the morning of the same day, a qualification took place from which three throwers qualified for the competition.

With Olympic champion John Flanagan and silver medalist Matt McGrath there was a US double success. The Canadian Con Walsh won the bronze medal.

Records

The world records that existed at the time were still unofficial.

World record	53.38 m	United States	John Flanagan	June 1908
Olympic record	51.23 m			St. Louis Finale ( USA ), August 29, 1904

The following records were broken or set at the Olympic Games:

OR

51.92 m

United States

John Flanagan

final

Results

qualification

The qualification was held in three staggered groups. The results of these groups were combined. Only the best three throwers in the qualification - highlighted in light green - could contest the final competition. However, the performance achieved in the qualification was taken into account in the evaluation of the final result. In both the qualification and the final, the participants had three attempts each.

Group A

athlete	country	Width (m)
Con Walsh	Canada	48.51
Lee Talbott	United States	47.87
Eric Lemming	Sweden	43.06
Robert Lindsay-Watson	Great Britain	k. A.
Benjamin Sherman	United States
John Murray	Great Britain

Group B

athlete	country	Width (m)
Tom Nicolson	Great Britain	48.09
Bill Horr	United States	46.95
Alan Fyffe	Great Britain	37.35
Robert Olsson	Sweden	k. A.
Harald Agger	Denmark
Istvan Mudin	Hungary
Ernest May	Great Britain
Julius Wagner	Switzerland
Ludwig Uettwiller	Germany

Group C

athlete	country	Width (m)
Matt McGrath	United States	51.18
John Flanagan	United States	50.36
Simon Gillis	United States	45.59
Henry Leeke	Great Britain	k. A.

Final and final result of the best nine

space	athlete	country	Width (m)
1	John Flanagan	United States	51.92 OR
2	Matt McGrath	United States	51.18
3	Con Walsh	Canada	48.51
4th	Tom Nicolson	Great Britain	48.09
5	Lee Talbott	United States	47.87
6th	Bill Horr	United States	46.95
7th	Simon Gillis	United States	45.59
8th	Eric Lemming	Sweden	43.06
9	Alan Fyffe	Great Britain	37.35

In the final only Flanagan could improve and reached a new Olympic record . However, it was only with his last attempt that he surpassed the leading Matthew McGrath. John Flanagan has won all of the Olympic hammer throwing competitions since this discipline was included in the Olympic program in 1900 . The 31-year-old McGrath, who took part in the Olympic Games for the first time, came second and won this competition in Stockholm in 1912 . The Canadian Con Walsh was third ahead of the British Tom Nicolson. Lee Talbot of the United States, also fifth in the discus throw and sixth in the shot put , came in fifth. His compatriot Marquis Bill Horr, who won silver and bronze in the two discus throwing competitions, was sixth ahead of Simon Gillis, also from the USA. The double Olympic champion of the two javelin throwing competitions here in London , Eric Lemming from Sweden, finished eighth.

• 

  The American John Flanagan won his third hammer throw gold medal in a row

• 

  US Olympic runner-up Matthew McGrath, four years later Olympic champion

• 

  The American Lee Talbot, also fifth in the discus throw and sixth in the shot put , was fifth in the Olympics

• 

  Marquis Bill Horr, USA, two-time medalist in the discus throw, came in sixth

• 

  The American Simon Gillis came in seventh place

• 

  The Swedish double Olympic champion of the javelin throw Eric Lemming was Olympic eighth

• 

  The Hungarian István Mudin was eliminated in the qualification

literature

• Volker Kluge , Olympic Summer Games - The Chronicle I, Berlin 1997 ( ISBN 3-328-00715-6 )
• Ekkehard zur Megede , The history of Olympic athletics, Volume 1: 1896–1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970

Web links

• Sports-Reference, Athletics at the 1908 London Summer Games: Men's Hammer Throw , accessed September 1, 2018
• Olympic Games London 1908, Athletics , IOC page on athletics at the 1908 Olympic Games at olympic.org, English, accessed September 1, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896–1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 90