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. With the absence of the Soviet team due to the Eastern Bloc boycott, 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 holder) and Sergey Litvinov (1980 silver medalist and 1983 world champion over runner-up Sedykh) as two of the top throwers in the world, the field was open.[2] Karl-Hans Riehm of West Germany, a contender in the event, finalist in both 1972 and 1976 and undefeated in 1979, 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.