1968 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Hammer Throw (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	Hammer throw
gender	Men
Attendees	22 athletes from 12 countries
Competition location	Estadio Olímpico Universitario
Competition phase	October 16, 1968 (qualification) October 17, 1968 (final)
Medalist Gyula Zsivótzky ( HUN )   Romuald Klim ( URS )   Lázár Lovász ( HUN )

The men's hammer throw at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City was held on October 16 and 17, 1968 in the Estadio Olímpico Universitario . 22 athletes took part.

Olympic champion was the Hungarian Gyula Zsivótzky . He won ahead of Romuald Klim from the Soviet Union and Lázár Lovász , like Zsivótzky, also from Hungary.

For the FR Germany - officially Germany - Hans Fahsl , Lutz Caspers and Uwe Beyer competed . Caspers and Beyer failed in the qualification, Fahsl reached the final and was eleventh there.

The GDR - officially East Germany - was represented by Helmuth Baumann and Reinhard Theimer , who both reached the final. Theimer finished seventh, Baumann eighth.

The Swiss Ernst Ammann dropped out in the qualification.

Athletes from Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Existing records

World record	73.76 m	Gyula Zsivótzky ( Hungary )	Budapest , Hungary	September 14, 1968
Olympic record	69.74 m	Romuald Klim ( Soviet Union )	Tokyo finals , Japan	October 18, 1964

Conducting the competition

The athletes competed in a qualifying round on October 16, which was completed in two groups. The twelve best starters qualified for the final. The qualifying distance for reaching the final on October 17th was 66.00 m. There, each participant initially had three attempts. For the first time, the eight best athletes - and not the six best athletes until 1964 - were then able to complete three more attempts.

Time schedule

October 16, 10:00 a.m .: Qualification

October 17, 3 p.m .: Final

Note: All times are Mexico City local time ( UTC −6)

The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue.

qualification

Date: October 16, 1968, from 10 a.m.

Group A

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	Expanse	annotation
1	Gyula Zsivótzky	Hungary	72.60 m OR	-	-	72.60 m	OR
2	Lázár Lovász	Hungary	68.96 m	-	-	68.96 m
3	Helmuth Baumann	GDR	68.24 m	-	-	68.24 m
4th	Reinhard Theimer	GDR	65.78 m	68.12 m	-	68.12 m
5	Hans Fahsl	BR Germany	65.80 m	67.90 m	-	67.90 m
6th	Takeo Sugawara	Japan	67.76 m	-	-	67.76 m
7th	Gennady Kondrashov	Soviet Union	67.56 m	-	-	67.56 m
8th	Ed Burke	United States	67.36 m	-	-	67.36 m
9	Romuald Klim	Soviet Union	66.82 m	-	-	66.82 m
10	Anatoly Shchupliakov	Soviet Union	64.78 m	66.56 m	-	66.56 m
11	Uwe Beyer	BR Germany	65.02 m	64.88 m	65.44 m	65.44 m

Group B

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	Expanse	annotation
1	Sándor Eckschmiedt	Hungary	68.60 m	-	-	68.60 m
2	Howard Payne	Great Britain	65.52 m	64.80 m	68.06 m	68.06 m
3	Yoshihisa Ishida	Japan	67.16 m	-	-	67.16 m
4th	Albert Hall	United States	x	65.70 m	58.28 m	65.70 m
5	Lutz Caspers	BR Germany	x	65.54 m	64.70 m	65.54 m
6th	Hal Connolly	United States	x	x	65.00 m	65.00 m
7th	José Luis Martínez	Spain	60.60 m	63.40 m	62.84 m	63.40 m
8th	Ernst Ammann	Switzerland	x	61.48 m	62.40 m	62.40 m
9	Praveen Kumar	India	x	59.80 m	60.84 m	60.84 m
10	Gustavo Morales	Nicaragua	x	43.88 m	45.76 m	45.76 m
11	Carlos Hasbun	El Salvador	x	37.02 m	37.46 m	37.46 m

final

Date: October 16, 1968, 3 p.m.

The top favorites were the gold and silver medalists from 1964 , Romuald Klim from the USSR, and the Hungarian Gyula Zsivótzky. The German thrower Uwe Beyer, who won bronze in 1964 behind Klim and Zsivótzky, was the best of the year in the world. World record holder Zsivótzky showed that the development of hammer throwing had continued : he already set a new Olympic record in qualifying , while Klim had exceeded the necessary width of 66.00 m by just 82 cm. The elimination competition ended badly for Beyer. He could not qualify for the final and was more than five meters behind his annual best.

In the first round of the final, Zsivótzky took the lead over Klim with a two-centimeter lead. In the second attempt, the Hungarian was able to improve again slightly, but in lap three Klim took over the top position with a new Olympic record and expanded it even further in the fourth attempt. In the following fifth attempt, Zsivótzky countered with another Olympic record, the fourth in this competition. This decided the battle for gold and silver. Bronze went to Zsivótzky's compatriot Lovász, who had thrown the same distance as the Japanese Sugawara. The second best distance was used for the decision. Here Lovász with 69.38 m was 32 centimeters better than Sugawara with 69.06 m.

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	4th attempt	5th attempt	6th attempt	Bottom line	annotation
1	Gyula Zsivótzky	Hungary	72.26 m	72.46 m	72.54 m	x	73.36 m OR	72.22 m	73.36 m	OR
2	Romuald Klim	Soviet Union	72.24 m	68.96 m	72.82 m OR	73.28 m OR	71.16 m	71.64 m	73.28 m
3	Lázár Lovász	Hungary	64.76 m	x	69.78 m	x	69.38 m	x	69.78 m
4th	Takeo Sugawara	Japan	67.24 m	68.12 m	x	69.06 m	69.78 m	61.40 m	69.78 m
5	Sándor Eckschmiedt	Hungary	67.84 m	68.50 m	69.46 m	x	67.64 m	68.08 m	69.46 m
6th	Gennady Kondrashov	Soviet Union	69.08 m	67.00 m	68.64 m	67.10 m	67.98 m	67.70 m	69.08 m
7th	Reinhard Theimer	GDR	68.82 m	x	66.16 m	68.84 m	67.86 m	63.54 m	68.84 m
8th	Helmuth Baumann	GDR	65.94 m	66.98 m	68.26 m	x	63.76 m	x	68.26 m
9	Anatoly Shchupliakov	Soviet Union	67.58 m	67.74 m	66.90 m	not in the final of the eight best throwers			67.74 m
10	Howard Payne	Great Britain	65.98 m	67.62 m	66.58 m				67.62 m
11	Hans Fahsl	BR Germany	x	64.00 m	66.36 m				66.36 m
12	Ed Burke	United States	x	65.72 m	65.46 m				65.72 m
13	Yoshihisa Ishida	Japan	65.04 m	63.72 m	x				65.04 m

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, pp. 368–370

Web links

• SportsReference Hammerwurf , accessed November 9, 2017
• Official report - summary p. 108f., English / French. (PDF), accessed on November 9, 2017
• Official report of the Olympic Games 1968 p. 530, English / French. (PDF), accessed on November 9, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 Page 558 (Engl.) ( Memento of 29 June 2011 at the Internet Archive ), accessed on November 9, 2017
2. ↑ Official report of the 1968 Olympic Games ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 10, English / French (PDF), accessed on November 9, 2017 
3. ↑ ^{a b} Official Report of the 1968 Olympic Games ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) 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. P. 530, English / French (PDF), accessed on November 9, 2017 
4. ↑ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, p. 368f