1976 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Hammer Throw (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	Hammer throw
gender	Men
Attendees	20 athletes from 14 countries
Competition location	Montreal Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	July 26, 1976 (qualifying) July 28, 1976 (final)
Medalist Jurij Sedych ( URS )   Alexei Spiridonov ( URS )   Anatoly Bondarchuk ( URS )

The men's hammer throw at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal was held on July 26th and 28th, 1976 in the Montreal Olympic Stadium. 20 athletes took part.

For the team of the Soviet Union there was a triple success to celebrate. Jurij Sedych became Olympic champion. The silver medal went to Alexei Spiridonov , the bronze went to the 1972 Olympic champion , Anatolij Bondarchuk .

The Federal Republic of Germany was represented by Edwin Klein , Karl-Hans Riehm and Walter Schmidt . All three athletes reached the final. Riehm was fourth, Schmidt fifth and Klein eighth. Jochen Sachse and Manfred Seidel started
for the GDR and also reached the final. Sachse was sixth, Seidel tenth. The Austrian Peter Sternad failed in the qualification. Throwers from Switzerland and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Existing records

World record	79.30 m	Walter Schmidt ( Federal Republic of Germany )	Frankfurt am Main , Federal Republic of Germany	August 14, 1975
Olympic record	75.50 m	Anatoly Bondarchuk ( Soviet Union )	Final of Munich , Federal Republic of Germany	7th September 1972

Conducting the competition

The athletes competed in a qualifying round on July 26th, which was conducted in two groups. The qualification distance for the direct entry into the final on July 28th was 69.00 m. Since only ten athletes reached this distance, the final field was filled to twelve participants according to the next best distance.
In the final, each athlete initially had three attempts. The best eight throwers were then entitled to another three attempts.

Time schedule

July 26, 10:00 a.m .: Qualification

July 28, 2 p.m .: Final

Note: All times are local Montreal time ( UTC − 5 )

The directly qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue, the others in light green.

qualification

Date: July 26, 1976, from 10 a.m.

Group A

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	Expanse	annotation
1	Karl-Hans Riehm	BR Germany	74.46 m	-	-	74.46 m
2	Yuri Sedych	Soviet Union	71.46 m	-	-	71.46 m
3	Anatoly Bondarchuk	Soviet Union	71.08 m	-	-	71.08 m
4th	Manfred Seidel	GDR	70.84 m	-	-	70.84 m
5	Walter Schmidt	BR Germany	70.76 m	-	-	70.76 m
6th	Jochen Sachse	GDR	x	70.64 m	-	70.64 m
7th	Alexei Spiridonov	Soviet Union	70.64 m	-	-	70.64 m
8th	Peter Farmer	Australia	67.50 m	68.94 m	69.92 m	69.92 m
9	Edwin Klein	BR Germany	68.68 m	68.36 m	68.72 m	68.72 m
10	Paul Dickenson	Great Britain	67.52 m	x	68.52 m	68.52 m

Group B

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	Expanse	annotation
1	Chris Black	Great Britain	70.76 m	-	-	70.76 m
2	Jacques Accambray	France	70.72 m	-	-	70.72 m
3	Shigenobu Murofushi	Japan	66.22 m	68.84 m	68.24 m	68.84 m
4th	Giampaolo Urlando	Italy	x	66.18 m	68.54 m	68.54 m
5	Larry Hart	United States	67.74 m	65.74 m	x	67.74 m
6th	Murray Cheater	New Zealand	66.30 m	67.38 m	x	67.38 m
7th	Edoardo Podbershek	Italy	66.56 m	66.28 m	x	66.56 m
8th	Peter Sternad	Austria	65.80 m	66.08 m	66.14 m	66.14 m
9	Murray Keating	Canada	65.00 m	65.28 m	65.68 m	65.68 m
10	Kleanthis Ierissiotis	Greece	65.50 m	x	x	65.50 m

final

Date: July 28, 1976, 2 p.m.

The Soviet throwers Juri Sedych and Alexei Spiridonow as well as Karl-Hans Riehm from the Federal Republic of Germany competed as medal candidates. The year before, Riehm had taken the hammer throw to a whole new level with a new throwing technique. But in the Olympic year, Sedych and Spiridonov in particular had equalized this lead. The other favorites included Anatolij Bondarchuk, Olympic champion in 1972 , and world record holder Walter Schmidt, who, however, had not yet achieved his best results at major events. Also represented in the final was the Japanese Shigenobu Murofushi, whose son Kōji Murofushi was to become Olympic champion in hammer throw in 2004 .

Already in the first round of the finals, the three Soviet athletes were at the top with strong distances. Spiridonov was ten centimeters ahead of Sedych, and Sedych was sixteen centimeters ahead of Bondarchuk. In the second attempt, Sedych took the lead with the Olympic record distance of 77.52 m. Nothing changed in this order, even if Spiridonow was able to improve again in the last attempt. Riehm and Schmidt followed in fourth and fifth in front of the GDR athlete Jochen Sachse, who won the silver medal in 1972.

The Soviet throwers had the first triple success of a country after the USA at the Olympic Games in 1904 - at that time the US throwers even took the first six places.

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	4th attempt	5th attempt	6th attempt	Bottom line	annotation
1	Yuri Sedych	Soviet Union	75.64 m	77.52 m OR	x	x	75.58 m	76.40 m	77.52 m	OR
2	Alexei Spiridonov	Soviet Union	75.74 m	73.94 m	75.28 m	75.60 m	x	76.08 m	76.08 m
3	Anatoly Bondarchuk	Soviet Union	75.48 m	x	74.64 m	74.16 m	x	75.46 m	75.48 m
4th	Karl-Hans Riehm	BR Germany	75.00 m	73.08 m	x	75.46 m	75.42 m	74.62 m	75.46 m
5	Walter Schmidt	BR Germany	72.58 m	74.72 m	74.36 m	73.52 m	74.72 m	72.42 m	74.72 m
6th	Jochen Sachse	GDR	71.90 m	72.84 m	72.80 m	73.14 m	74.30 m	73.70 m	74.30 m
7th	Chris Black	Great Britain	70.56 m	72.38 m	73.18 m	x	69.54 m	x	73.18 m
8th	Edwin Klein	BR Germany	68.14 m	70.52 m	70.32 m	70.36 m	69.76 m	71.34 m	71.34 m
9	Jacques Accambray	France	x	67.52 m	70.44 m	not in the final of the eight best throwers			70.44 m
10	Manfred Seidel	GDR	69.66 m	x	70.02 m				70.02 m
11	Shigenobu Murofushi	Japan	x	68.62 m	68.88 m				68.88 m
12	Peter Farmer	Australia	67.98 m	67.92 m	68.00 m				68.00 m

• 

  The 1972 Olympic champion Anatoly Bondarchuk, USSR, winner of the bronze medal

• 

  Jochen Sachse from the GDR came in sixth place

literature

• Ernst Huberty / Willy B. Wange, The Olympic Games Montreal Innsbruck 1976, Lingen-Verlag, Cologne 1976, p. 228f

Videos

• SYND 29 7 76 OLYMPIC MEN'S 110M HURDLE FINAL, 3000M STEEPLECHASE, HAMMER THROW , range 0:36 min - 1:26 min published on July 24, 2015 on youtube.com, accessed on December 18, 2017
• Hammer Throw Final 1976 Olympics.mpg , posted February 22, 2012 on youtube.com, accessed December 18, 2017

Web links

• SportsReference Hammerwurf , accessed December 18, 2017
• Montréal 1976 Official Report, Volume III, Results , p. 77, English / French (PDF, 23 MB), accessed on December 18, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 Page 558 (Engl.) ( Memento of 29 June 2011 at the Internet Archive ), accessed on 18 December 2017
2. ↑ Montréal 1976 Official Report, Volume III, Results , p. 23, English / French (PDF, 23 MB), accessed on December 18, 2017
3. ↑ ^{a b} Montréal 1976 Official Report, Volume III, Results , p. 77, English / French (PDF, 23 MB), accessed on December 18, 2017
4. ↑ SportsReference , accessed December 18, 2017