Hammer throw
From Free net encyclopedia
The modern or Olympic hammer throw is an athletic throwing event where the object to be thrown is a heavy steel ball attached with wire (maximum 4 ft (1.22 m) to a handle. The name hammer throw is derived from older competitions where in fact a hammer was thrown. Such competitions are still part of the Scottish Highland Games, where the implement used is a steel or lead weight at the end of a cane handle.
Like other throwing events, the competition is decided by who can throw the ball the farthest. Competitors gain maximum distance by swinging the 16 lb (7.257 kg) hammer (4 kg or 8.82 lb for the women's hammer) repeatedly around their head while stationary, and then rotating very quickly with the movement of the hammer before releasing the hammer at the front of the throwing circle.
While the men's hammer throw has been in the Olympic Games since 1900, the IAAF did not start ratifying women's marks until 1995. Women's hammer throw was first included in the Olympics at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, after having been included in the World Championships a year earlier.
The current world record for the men's hammer was set by Yuriy Sedykh who threw 86.74 m at the European athletics championships held in Stuttgart (Germany) in 1986.
The current world record for the women's hammer was set by Tatyana Lysenko who threw 77.06 m in Moscow, Russia on 15 July 2005.
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