Athletics_at_the_1984_Summer_Olympics_–_Men's_hammer_throw
Athletics at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's hammer throw
Olympic athletics event
The men's hammer throw was an event at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. There were 23 participating athletes from 13 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The eight highest-ranked competitors after three rounds qualified for the final three throws to decide the medals. The qualification mark was set at 72.00 metres.[1]
The event was won by Juha Tiainen of Finland, the nation's first medal in the event. It was "one of the most devalued Olympic competitions ever" due to the absence of the Soviet team, which had swept the medals the last two Games and had both Yuriy Sedykh (the two-time defending champion, two-time European champion, and world record) and Sergey Litvinov (1980 silver medalist and 1983 world champion over runner-up Sedykh) as two of the top throwers in the world.[2] It was the first time since 1948 that the Olympic record was not broken. Karl-Hans Riehm of West Germany, a contender in the event and finalist in both 1972 and 1976 before being kept out of the 1980 Games due to the American-led boycott, finally earned a medal with his silver-winning performance. His compatriot Klaus Ploghaus took bronze. They were the first two medals for West Germany as a separate nation, though Germany and the United Team of Germany had each taken medals previously.