1912 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Hammer Throw (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	Hammer throw
gender	Men
Attendees	14 athletes from 4 countries
Competition location	Stockholm Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	July 14, 1912
Medalist Matt McGrath ( USA )   Duncan Gillis ( CAN )   Clarence Childs ( USA )

The men's hammer throw at the Olympic Games in Stockholm in 1912 was held on July 14, 1912 in the Stockholm Olympic Stadium. 14 athletes took part.

The American Matt McGrath became Olympic champion . The silver medal went to Duncan Gillis (CAN), the bronze went to Clarence Childs (USA).

Existing records

World record	Matt McGrath ( USA )	57.10 m	new York	October 29, 1911
Olympic record	John Flanagan ( USA )	51.92 m	London	July 14, 1908

Conducting the competition

All 14 athletes had three attempts. The best three throwers then completed another three attempts, whereby the results of the first three rounds were included in the evaluation.

Note: The best widths are shown in bold.

Result

Date: July 14, 1912

The Canadian Duncan Gillis competed with a foot injury that he had sustained during training days before. During one of his attempts at competition, he stepped on the edge of the ring, which at that time consisted of an iron ring, and thus made the foot injury even worse with an additional sprain. Nevertheless, it was enough for him to win the silver medal.
The dominator of this competition, however, was Matt McGrath. In the first attempt he improved the Olympic record to 54.13 m. In the last round he achieved his best length of 54.74 m and improved the Olympic record of 1908 by 2.82 m. Each of his four valid throws was over the best distance of the competition runner-up Gillis. Bronze went to McGrath's compatriot Clarence Childs.

McGrath's gold medal, which had won the silver in London in 1908, was the fourth by a US athlete in the fourth Olympic hammer throw competition. Ten of the previous twelve medals went to US throwers.

space	Surname	nation	result	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	4th attempt	5th attempt	6th attempt	annotation
1	Matt McGrath	United States	54.74 m	54.13	-	-	52.83	53.90	54.74	OR - OR also in the 1st attempt
2	Duncan Gillis	Canada	48.39 m	46.17	-	48.39	-	47.24	-
3	Clarence Childs	United States	48.17 m	48.17	-	-	-	-	-
4th	Robert Olsson	Sweden	46.50 m	39.56	46.50	-
5	Carl Johan Lind	Sweden	45.61 m	45.06	-	45.61
6th	Denis Carey	Great Britain	43.78 m	38.99	43.78	-
7th	Nils Linde	Sweden	43.32 m	43.32	-	-
8th	Carl Jahnzon	Sweden	42.58 m	39.18	42.58	-
	Ralph Rose	United States		-	40.80	42.58
10	Arvid Åberg	Sweden	41.11 m	-	-	41.11
11	Gunnar Johnson	Sweden	39.92 m	38.66	39.92	-
12	Benjamin Sherman	United States	38.77 m	38.71	-	38.77
13	Viktor Hackberg	Sweden	38.44 m	-	-	38.44
ogV	Simon Gillis	United States	-	-	-	-

photos

• 

  Olympic Champion Matt McGrath (USA)

• 

  The US athletes Clarence Childs (bronze medal) and Simon Gillis (right, without valid distance)

• 

  Ralph Rose (USA), here in the shot put, also competed in the hammer throw and finished eighth

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 121f

Web links

• SportsReference Hammerwurf , accessed August 29, 2017
• Official report , engl. (PDF), accessed on August 29, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Official Report (Engl.)  ( Page no longer available , searching web archives )  Info: The link is automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.