Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Men's hammer throw

Men's hammer throw
at the Games of the XI Olympiad
Karl Hein
VenueOlympiastadion
DateAugust 3
Competitors27 from 16 nations
Winning distance56.49 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Karl Hein
 Germany
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Erwin Blask
 Germany
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Fred Warngård
 Sweden
← 1932
1948 →

The men's hammer throw event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1936 Summer Olympics. The competition was held on August 3, 1936. There were 27 competitors from 16 nations.[1] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was won by Karl Hein of Germany.[2] The silver medal went to Erwin Blask, also of Germany. They were the first medals for Germany in the event; Germany was also the first country other than the United States to have two medalists in the event in the same Games. Fred Warngård of Sweden took bronze. The United States' eight-Games medal streak in the hammer throw was snapped, with the Americans' best result being William Rowe's fifth place.

Background

This was the ninth appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1896. One of the six finalists from the 1932 Games returned: silver medalist Ville Pörhölä of Finland, who had also won the shot put in 1920. Two-time defending champion Pat O'Callaghan of Ireland would have competed and been favored to match John Flanagan's three gold medals, but disputes over the status of sport governing bodies on the island of Ireland resulted in the Olympic Federation of Ireland boycotting the 1936 Games.[1]

Austria, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Greece, and Yugoslavia each made their debut in the event. The United States appeared for the ninth time, the only nation to have competed at each appearance of the event to that point.

Competition format

The competition introduced a true two-round format, with the qualifying round completely separate from the divided final (though the official report describes the competition as having three phases, with the final being a "semi-finals" and "final"). In qualifying, each athlete received three attempts; those recording a mark of at least 46.00 metres advanced to the final. The results of the qualifying round were then ignored. Finalists received three throws each, with the top six competitors receiving an additional three attempts. The best distance among those six throws counted.[1][3]

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in metres) prior to the 1936 Summer Olympics.

World record  Patrick Ryan (USA) 57.77 New York City, United States 17 August 1913
Olympic record  Matt McGrath (USA) 54.74 Stockholm, Sweden 14 July 1912

Erwin Blask set a new Olympic record with 55.04 metres in his second throw of the final. Fred Warngård beat the old record in his fourth throw, but was still behind Blask. Karl Hein won the gold medal with a new Olympic record throw of 56.49 metres in his last throw of the competition.

Schedule

Date Time Round
Monday, 2 August 1936 9:00
15:00
Qualifying
Final

Results

Qualifying

Rank Athlete Nation Distance Notes
1–17 Isao Abe  Japan >= 46.00 Q
Koit Annamaa  Estonia >= 46.00 Q
Anton Barticevic  Chile >= 46.00 Q
Erwin Blask  Germany >= 46.00 Q
Giovanni Cantagalli  Italy >= 46.00 Q
Henry Dreyer  United States >= 46.00 Q
Donald Favor  United States >= 46.00 Q
Bernhard Greulich  Germany >= 46.00 Q
Karl Hein  Germany >= 46.00 Q
Sulo Heino  Finland >= 46.00 Q
Gunnar Jansson  Sweden >= 46.00 Q
Gustaf Alfons Koutonen  Finland >= 46.00 Q
Evert Linné  Sweden >= 46.00 Q
Ville Pörhölä  Finland >= 46.00 Q
William Rowe  United States >= 46.00 Q
Fred Warngård  Sweden >= 46.00 Q
Joseph Wirtz  France >= 46.00 Q
18–27 Christos Dimitropoulos  Greece <46.00
Norman Drake  Great Britain <46.00
Jaroslav Eliáš  Czechoslovakia <46.00
Pedro Goić  Yugoslavia <46.00
Hans Houtzager  Netherlands <46.00
Emil Janausch  Austria <46.00
Jaroslav Knotek  Czechoslovakia <46.00
Eiichiro Matsuno  Japan <46.00
Assis Naban  Brazil <46.00
Milan Stepišnik  Yugoslavia <46.00

Final

Rank Athlete Nation 1 2 3 4 5 6 Distance Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Karl Hein  Germany 52.13 52.44 X 54.70 54.85 56.49 OR 56.49 OR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Erwin Blask  Germany 52.55 55.04 OR X 54.10 54.48 X 55.04
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Fred Warngård  Sweden 52.05 52.98 54.03 54.83 53.30 50.61 54.83
4 Gustaf Alfons Koutonen  Finland X 50.01 51.90 49.11 49.91 X 51.90
5 William Rowe  United States 51.53 51.04 49.29 50.32 51.66 X 51.66
6 Donald Favor  United States 50.78 50.02 51.01 48.48 50.33 47.71 51.01
7 Bernhard Greulich  Germany 50.19 X 50.61 Did not advance 50.61
8 Koit Annamaa  Estonia 48.77 49.54 50.46 Did not advance 50.46
9 Henry Dreyer  United States 49.81 X 50.42 Did not advance 50.42
10 Sulo Heino  Finland 49.93 47.15 48.30 Did not advance 49.93
11 Ville Pörhölä  Finland 45.35 X 49.89 Did not advance 49.89
12 Gunnar Jansson  Sweden 49.21 48.49 49.28 Did not advance 49.28
13 Isao Abe  Japan 47.40 41.83 49.01 Did not advance 49.01
14 Evert Linné  Sweden X 47.25 47.61 Did not advance 47.61
15 Giovanni Cantagalli  Italy 45.21 47.42 45.08 Did not advance 47.42
16 Joseph Wirtz  France X 44.82 45.69 Did not advance 45.69
17 Anton Barticevic  Chile X 43.02 45.23 Did not advance 45.23

References

  1. ^ a b c "Hammer Throw, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  2. ^ "Athletics at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games: Men's Hammer Throw". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  3. ^ Official Report, vol. 2, p. 682.