2004 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Hammer Throw (Women)

sport	athletics
discipline	Hammer throw
gender	Women
Attendees	47 athletes from 25 countries
Competition location	Athens Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	August 23, 2004 (qualification) August 25, 2004 (final)
Medalists Olga Kusenkowa ( RUS )   Yipsi Moreno ( CUB )   Yunaika Crawford ( CUB )

The women's hammer throw at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens was held on 23 and 25 August 2004 in the Athens Olympic Stadium. 47 athletes took part.

Olympic champion was Olga Kusenkowa from Russia. She won ahead of the two Cubans Yipsi Moreno and Yunaika Crawford .

With Andrea Bunjes , Betty Heidler and Susanne Keil , three German participants started. Heidler and Bunjes reached the final, in which Heidler was fourth and Bunjes eleventh. Keil was eliminated from the qualification.
Athletes from Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein were not among the participants.

Current titleholders

Olympic champion 2000	Kamila Skolimowska ( Poland )	71.16 m	Sydney 2000
World Champion 2003	Yipsi Moreno ( Cuba )	73.33 m	Paris 2003
European Champion 2002	Olga Kusenkowa ( Russia )	72.94 m	Munich 2002
Pan American Champion 2003	Yipsi Moreno ( Cuba )	74.25 m	Santo Domingo 2003
Central America and Caribbean Champion 2003	Competition not in the championship program		St. George’s 2003
South American Champion 2003	Katiuscia de Jesus ( Brazil )	61.01 m	Barquisimeto 2003
Asian Champion 2003	Gu Yuan ( People's Republic of China )	70.78 m	Manila 2003
African champion 2004	Marwa Hussein ( Egypt )	66.14 m	Brazzaville 2004
Oceania Champion 2002	Sharyn Tennent ( Australia )	54.63 m	Christchurch 2002

Existing records

World record	76.07 m	Mihaela Melinte ( Romania )	Rüdlingen , Switzerland	August 29, 1999
Olympic record	71.16 m	Kamila Skolimowska ( Poland )	Sydney final , Australia	September 29, 2000

Remarks:

• All times are based on Athens local time ( UTC + 2 ).
• All widths are given in meters (m).

qualification

The qualification was carried out in two groups. The qualification distance for the direct entry into the final was 68.50 m. Since only eleven athletes reached this distance (highlighted in light blue), the final field was filled with the next best female athlete from both groups to twelve participants (highlighted in light green). In the end, 68.27 m had to be achieved to take part.

Group A

August 23, 2004, 9:05 am

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	Expanse	annotation
1	Gu Yuan	People's Republic of China	71.65 OR	-	-	71.65	OR
2	Irina Sekacheva	Ukraine	66.57	71.63	-	71.63
3	Andrea Bunjes	Germany	70.73	-	-	70.73
4th	Yipsi Moreno	Cuba	70.56	-	-	70.56
5	Kamila Skolimowska	Poland	67.29	68.66	-	68.66
6th	Ivana Brkljačić	Croatia	63.21	68.21	68.15	68.21
7th	Jelena Konewzewa	Russia	66.88	67.83	x	67.83
8th	Katalin Divós	Hungary	67.39	67.64	x	67.64
9	Julianna Tudja	Hungary	62.80	65.94	66.85	66.85
10	Erin Gilreath	United States	66.71	65.46	66.52	66.71
11	Berta Castells	Spain	64.30	x	66.05	66.05
12	Maryia Smaliachkova	Belarus	65.68	65.31	x	65.68
13	Ester Belassini	Italy	x	54.97	65.58	65.58
14th	Yuka Murofushi	Japan	65.33	x	63.42	65.33
15th	Clarissa Claretti	Italy	62.43	x	65.06	65.06
16	Bronwyn Eagles	Australia	x	64.09	x	64.09
17th	Brooke Krueger	Australia	63.00	x	63.88	63.88
18th	Vânia Silva	Portugal	63.81	61.77	61.44	63.81
19th	Evdokia Tsamoglou	Greece	57.56	62.76	x	62.76
20th	Shirley Webb	Great Britain	61.60	x	x	61.60
21st	Lucie Vrbenská	Czech Republic	x	60.14	60.29	60.29
22nd	Jennifer Dahlgren	Argentina	x	x	59.52	59.52
23	Sanja Gavrilović	Croatia	56.79	x	x	56.79
ogV	Elena Teloni	Cyprus	x	x	x		without space

Group B

August 23, 2004, 10:50 a.m.

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	Expanse	annotation
1	Olga Kusenkova	Russia	73.71 OR	x	x	73.71	OR
2	Yunaika Crawford	Cuba	71.74	x	x	71.74
3	Zhang Wenxiu	People's Republic of China	71.56	x	x	71.56
4th	Betty Heidler	Germany	66.20	69.81	x	69.81
5	Wolha Zander	Belarus	66.20	x	69.61	69.61
6th	Alexandra Papayeoryiou	Greece	64.59	68.58	x	68.58
7th	Candice Scott	Trinidad and Tobago	x	66.97	68.27	68.27
8th	Liu Yinghui	People's Republic of China	66.67	66.30	68.12	68.12
9	Manuela Montebrun	France	64.31	67.74	67.90	67.90
10	Tatiana Lysenko	Russia	x	65.57	66.82	66.82
11	Susanne Keil	Germany	66.35	x	x	66.35
12	Sini Poyry	Finland	66.05	x	64.35	66.05
13	Éva Orbán	Hungary	65.76	63.68	63.31	65.76
14th	Anna Mahon	United States	64.11	64.99	64.65	64.99
15th	Lorraine Shaw	Great Britain	63.06	63.13	64.79	64.79
16	Sviatlana Sudak	Belarus	x	x	64.42	64.42
17th	Violeta Guzmán	Mexico	62.76	58.18	61.45	62.76
18th	Aldenay Vasallo	Cuba	62.64	60.71	61.08	62.64
19th	Marwa Hussein	Egypt	62.27	x	57.24	62.27
20th	Jackie Jeschelnik	United States	58.00	x	62.23	62.23
21st	Stiliani Papadoupolou	Greece	61.48	61.61	x	61.61
22nd	Deborah Sosimenko	Australia	x	57.79	57.62	57.79
23	Marina Lapina	Azerbaijan	55.34	50.60	x	55.34
ogV	Lisa Misipeka	American Samoa	x	x	x		without space

final

August 25, 2004, 10:10 p.m.

Twelve athletes had qualified for the final, eleven of them via the qualification distance, another via their placement. Two Chinese women, two Germans and two Cubans were represented as well as one participant each from Greece, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Trinidad and Tobago and the Ukraine.

There were two top favorites for this competition. The Cuban Yipsi Moreno had won the world championships in 2001 and 2003 . The Russian Olga Kusenkowa was runner-up in the world championship and, in 2002, European champion . Other athletes with medal chances were the French World Cup third in 2003 Manuela Montebrun, the World Cup fourth and Asian champion Gu Yuan and the 2000 Olympic champion Kamila Skolimowska. Of them, Montebrun already failed in the qualification.

In the final, the fight for the Olympic victory and the medals was very close to the end. As already indicated in the qualification, the level of the still young discipline was very high. Kusenkowa came in round one with 73.16 m close to her Olympic record from the preliminary fight. The Cuban Yunaika Crawford was second with 70.98 m, Moreno had an invalid attempt. In round two there were six throws over the 70-meter mark. Kusenkowa improved her Olympic record to 74.27 m. Moreno reached 72.68 m, so she was second. The Chinese Zhang Wenxiu was third with 72.03 m, ahead of Crawford with 71.43 m.

Kusenkowa also improved with her next throw, which landed at 75.02 m. Crawford reached 73.76 m, which she was second again. Behind that, too, everything shifted again. The German Betty Heidler threw 72.73 m and was in third place. Moreno had an invalid attempt and was fourth ahead of Skolimowska with 72.57 m and the Belarusian Wolha Zander, who improved to 72.27 m. Zhang fell back to seventh place. The athletes who had thrown further than seventy meters qualified for the final of the top eight. There were no changes in lap four. In the fifth round, Moreno reached 73.36 m, so the co-favorite improved to second place and pushed Crawford and Heidler, who had been ahead of her, one place behind.

With that the decision was made, there were no more postponements in the last round. Olga Kusenkowa was Olympic champion and set a new Olympic record with 75.02 m. Yipsi Moreno won silver, her compatriot Yunaika Crawford bronze. Betty Heidler took a surprising fourth place with a new German record, ahead of Kamila Skolimowska and Wolha Zander. Zhang Wenxiu came in seventh, and Irina Sekatschowa from Ukraine was eighth.

There were only three meters between first and seventh place, the second was less than a meter from the fifth. The Olympic champion from Sydney Kamila Skolimowska had increased her width by almost one and a half meters from four years ago and still had to be content with fifth place.

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	4th attempt	5th attempt	6th attempt	Bottom line	annotation
1	Olga Kusenkova	Russia	73.18	74.27 OR	75.02 OR	x	72.60	74.92	75.02	OR
2	Yipsi Moreno	Cuba	x	72.68	x	x	73.36	x	73.36
3	Yunaika Crawford	Cuba	70.98	71.43	73.16	x	x	70.06	73.16
4th	Betty Heidler	Germany	x	67.71	72.73 DR	72.41	70.21	68.49	72.73	DR
5	Kamila Skolimowska	Poland	69.51	68.50	72.57	x	x	67.06	72.57
6th	Wolha Zander	Belarus	66.91	70.15	72.27	65.01	x	68.63	72.27
7th	Zhang Wenxiu	People's Republic of China	x	72.03	x	68.03	x	x	72.03
8th	Irina Sekacheva	Ukraine	69.40	70.11	67.34	66.40	70.40	x	70.40
9	Candice Scott	Trinidad and Tobago	63.13	69.94 NO	68.51	not in the final of the eight best throwers			69.94	NO
10	Gu Yuan	People's Republic of China	67.59	68.62	69.76				69.76
11	Andrea Bunjes	Germany	68.40	61.78	68.22				68.40
12	Alexandra Papayeoryiou	Greece	x	63.26	66.83				66.83

• 

  The German Betty Heidler took fourth place in the final

• 

  The 2000 Olympic champion Kamila Skolimowska from Poland came in fifth here in Athens

• 

  The Olympic seventh Zhang Wenxiu from China

Web links

• SportsReference Hammerwurf , accessed May 16, 2018
• Results on the IAAF website, accessed on May 16, 2018
• Official Report of the XXVIIIth Olympiad, Results Athletics , English / French (PDF, 3054 KB), accessed on May 16, 2018

Video

• Hammer Throw Womens Final Athens Olympics 2004 , published March 26, 2011 on youtube.com, accessed May 16, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Central American and Caribbean Championships (Women) on gbrathletics.com, accessed May 16, 2018
2. ^ South American Championships (Women) on gbrathletics.com, accessed May 16, 2018
3. ↑ Asian Championships on gbrathletics.com, accessed May 16, 2018
4. ↑ Oceania Championships on gbrathletics.com, accessed May 16, 2018
5. ↑ IAAF Statistics World Records, Hammer Throw Women , accessed on May 16, 2018