# Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's hammer throw

The men's hammer throw field event at the 1972 Summer Olympics took place on September 4 & 7. There were 31 competitors from 17 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Anatoliy Bondarchuk of the Soviet Union, the nation's third victory in the men's hammer throw. Fellow Soviet Vasiliy Khmelevskiy took bronze. Silver went to Jochen Sachse of East Germany, the nation's first medal in the event. The Soviet Union's medal streak in the event extended to five Games, while Hungary's ended after three Games (three-time medalist Gyula Zsivótzky finished fifth this time).

## Background

This was the 16th appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1896. Six of the 13 finalists from the 1968 Games returned: gold medalist (and 1960 and 1964 silver medalist) Gyula Zsivótzky of Hungary, fourth-place finisher (who lost the bronze on a tie-breaker) Takeo Sugawara of Japan, fifth-place finisher (and 1964 finalist) Sándor Eckschmiedt of Hungary, seventh-place finisher Reinhard Theimer of East Germany, tenth-place finisher Howard Payne of Great Britain, and thirteenth-place finisher Yoshihisa Ishida of Japan. Anatoliy Bondarchuk of the Soviet Union was the 1969 European Champion and the favorite in the event.
Bulgaria and Uruguay each made their debut in the event. The United States appeared for the 16th time, the only nation to have competed at each appearance of the event to that point.

## Competition format

The competition used the two-round format introduced in 1936, with the qualifying round completely separate from the divided final. In qualifying, each athlete received three attempts; those recording a mark of at least 66.00 metres advanced to the final. If fewer than 12 athletes achieved that distance, the top 12 would advance. The results of the qualifying round were then ignored. Finalists received three throws each, with the top eight competitors receiving an additional three attempts. The best distance among those six throws counted.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:
| World record | Walter Schmidt (FRG) | 76.40 | Lahr, Germany | 4 September 1971 |
| Olympic record | Gyula Zsivótzky (HUN) | 73.63 | Mexico City, Mexico | 17 October 1968 |
Anatoliy Bondarchuk's first throw of the final went 75.50 metres for a new Olympic record; nobody was able to better it. The other two medalists, Jochen Sachse and Vasiliy Khmelevskiy, beat the old record but not Bondarchuk's new one.

## Schedule

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Monday, 4 September 1972 | 10:30 | Qualifying |
| Thursday, 7 September 1972 | 14:00 | Final |

## Results

All throwers reaching 66.00 m (216 ft 6+1⁄2 in) and the top 12 including ties advanced to the finals. All qualifiers are shown in blue. All distances are listed in metres.

### Qualifying

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Group | 1 | 2 | 3 | Distance | Notes |
| 1 | Anatoliy Bondarchuk | Soviet Union | B | 72.88 | — | — | 72.88 | Q |
| 2 | Gyula Zsivótzky | Hungary | B | 71.20 | — | — | 71.20 | Q |
| 3 | Reinhard Theimer | East Germany | A | 70.66 | — | — | 70.66 | Q |
| 4 | Vasiliy Khmelevskiy | Soviet Union | A | 70.00 | — | — | 70.00 | Q |
| 5 | Jochen Sachse | East Germany | B | 69.94 | — | — | 69.94 | Q |
| 6 | Strećko Štiglić | Yugoslavia | A | 65.52 | 69.60 | — | 69.60 | Q |
| 7 | Tom Gage | United States | B | 65.32 | 65.14 | 69.40 | 69.40 | Q |
| 8 | Mario Vecchiato | Italy | A | 68.12 | — | — | 68.12 | Q |
| 9 | Jacques Accambray | France | B | 68.00 | — | — | 68.00 | Q |
| 10 | Karl-Hans Riehm | West Germany | A | 64.44 | 67.64 | — | 67.64 | Q |
| 11 | István Encsi | Hungary | A | 67.38 | — | — | 67.38 | Q |
| 12 | Shigenobu Murofushi | Japan | B | 65.94 | 67.26 | — | 67.26 | Q |
| 13 | Stavros Moutaftsidis | Greece | A | 67.22 | — | — | 67.22 | Q |
| 14 | Edwin Klein | West Germany | A | 67.14 | — | — | 67.14 | Q |
| 15 | Uwe Beyer | West Germany | B | 67.04 | — | — | 67.04 | Q |
| 16 | Peter Sternad | Austria | B | X | 66.74 | — | 66.74 | Q |
| 17 | Iosyp Hamskiy | Soviet Union | B | X | X | 66.72 | 66.72 | Q |
| 18 | Takeo Sugawara | Japan | A | 65.94 | 64.56 | 66.50 | 66.50 | Q |
| 19 | Sándor Eckschmiedt | Hungary | B | 66.44 | — | — | 66.44 | Q |
| 20 | Barry Williams | Great Britain | A | X | 66.32 | — | 66.32 | Q |
| 21 | Todor Manolov | Bulgaria | B | X | X | 65.62 | 65.62 | |
| 22 | Al Schoterman | United States | A | 65.18 | 63.74 | 64.06 | 65.18 | |
| 23 | Stanisław Lubiejewski | Poland | A | 60.34 | 64.80 | X | 64.80 | |
| 24 | Howard Payne | Great Britain | B | 63.58 | 64.56 | 64.10 | 64.56 | |
| 25 | Yoshihisa Ishida | Japan | B | 63.00 | 63.82 | X | 63.82 | |
| 26 | Georgios Georgiadis | Greece | B | 63.58 | X | X | 63.58 | |
| 27 | George Frenn | United States | A | 57.28 | 62.14 | 58.86 | 62.14 | |
| 28 | William Silen | Puerto Rico | B | X | X | 62.02 | 62.02 | |
| 29 | Vladimir Prikhodko | France | A | 60.80 | 61.78 | 59.58 | 61.78 | |
| 30 | José Alberto Vallejo | Argentina | B | X | 60.08 | X | 60.08 | |
| 31 | Darwin Piñeyrúa | Uruguay | A | 59.84 | X | 58.50 | 59.84 | |
| — | Jorge Nuñez | Mexico | B | DNS | DNS | DNS | DNS | |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Distance | Notes |
| | Anatoliy Bondarchuk | Soviet Union | 75.50 OR | 72.62 | 71.76 | 73.78 | 73.50 | 72.90 | 75.50 | OR |
| | Jochen Sachse | East Germany | 71.54 | X | 73.70 | 71.26 | X | 74.96 | 74.96 | |
| | Vasiliy Khmelevskiy | Soviet Union | 68.82 | 71.62 | 74.04 | 68.16 | X | X | 74.04 | |
| 4 | Uwe Beyer | West Germany | 70.32 | 71.52 | X | 68.98 | 69.90 | X | 71.52 | |
| 5 | Gyula Zsivótzky | Hungary | 71.38 | 70.44 | 70.48 | X | 70.66 | 70.20 | 71.38 | |
| 6 | Sándor Eckschmiedt | Hungary | 71.20 | X | 67.26 | 69.24 | 67.90 | 68.86 | 71.20 | |
| 7 | Edwin Klein | West Germany | 71.14 | X | X | 69.70 | 70.26 | X | 71.14 | |
| 8 | Shigenobu Murofushi | Japan | 69.36 | 70.88 | 70.32 | 65.70 | 69.08 | 68.54 | 70.88 | |
| 9 | Mario Vecchiato | Italy | X | 69.46 | 70.58 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | 70.58 | |
| 10 | Karl-Hans Riehm | West Germany | 70.12 | 68.98 | 69.44 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | 70.12 | |
| 11 | István Encsi | Hungary | 66.32 | 69.82 | 70.06 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | 70.06 | |
| 12 | Tom Gage | United States | 66.94 | 69.50 | X | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | 69.50 | |
| 13 | Reinhard Theimer | East Germany | X | 69.16 | X | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | 69.16 | |
| 14 | Strećko Štiglić | Yugoslavia | 67.60 | 68.34 | 67.60 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | 68.34 | |
| 15 | Stavros Moutaftsidis | Greece | 68.14 | 68.30 | 67.04 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | 68.30 | |
| 16 | Barry Williams | Great Britain | 68.18 | 66.56 | X | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | 68.18 | |
| 17 | Peter Sternad | Austria | 65.60 | 65.94 | 66.64 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | 66.64 | |
| 18 | Iosyp Hamskiy | Soviet Union | 66.26 | X | 65.34 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | 66.26 | |
| 19 | Jacques Accambray | France | X | 65.06 | X | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | 65.06 | |
| 20 | Takeo Sugawara | Japan | 55.82 | 64.56 | 64.70 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | 64.70 | |