Hammer throw

Tradition traces it to the Tailteann Games in Tara, Ireland, around the year 1830 BC. Some time later the Celtic warrior Culchulainn reputedly took a chariot axle with a wheel still attached, spun it around and hurled it a long way. The wheel was later replaced by a rock with a wooden handle attached. A sledgehammer began to be used for the sport in Scotland and England during the Middle Ages. In current times, the hammer has changed to the more modern 16 lb. ball attached to a wire and a handle, but the Scottish hammer throw as seen in Highland Games still feature the older style of hammer throw with the rock and the solid wood handle. While the men's hammer throw has been part of the Olympics since 1900, the International Association of Athletics Federations did not start ratifying women's marks until 1995. Women's hammer throw was first included in the Olympics at the 2000 summer games in Sydney, Australia, after having been included in the World Championships a year earlier. ==Competition==

The men's hammer weighs and the women's weighs , with the wire in either case no more than in length. Throws are made from a throwing circle. The thrower is not allowed to step outside the throwing circle before the hammer has landed and may only enter and exit from the rear of the throwing circle. The hammer must land within a 34.92º throwing sector that is centered on the throwing circle. The sector angle was chosen because it provides a sector whose bounds are easy to measure and lay out on a field (10 metres out from the center of the ring, 6 metres across). A violation of the rules results in a foul and the throw not being counted. the men's hammer world record is held by Yuriy Sedykh, who threw at the 1986 European Athletics Championships in Stuttgart, West Germany on 30 August. The world record for the women's hammer is held by Anita Włodarczyk, who threw during the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial on 28 August 2016. Sedykh's 1986 world record has been noted for its longevity, and for dating from "a time when track and field was starting to realize the scale of performance-enhancing drug use" (AP). According to Russian doping whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov, Sedykh was a heavy user of steroids, which Sedykh denied. In particular, Earth's rotation affects it via the location's latitude (due to the centrifugal force, the hammer will fly a bit further in a location closer to the equator) and to a lesser extent also via the throw's azimuth (i.e. its compass direction, due to Coriolis forces). According to a 2023 study, such effects are large enough that the top 20 world-record rankings for both men and women at the time could somewhat change if they were adjusted for latitude and azimuth. == Safety issues ==

Hammer throwing has been described as involving "inherent danger [...]. Athletes, coaches, and spectators participating in the event are at risk; steel hammers [...] are hurled through the air at great speeds, [travel] far distances, and [are] sometimes difficult to spot in flight." For example, hammer throws resulted in four deaths in Europe in 2000 alone, and have caused deaths and permanent brain damage injuries in the United States too. ==All-time top 25==

Men • Correct as of September 2025. Annulled marks • Ivan Tsikhan of Belarus also threw 86.73 in Brest on 3 July 2005. This performance was annulled due to doping offences. Women • Correct as of April 2026. Annulled marks The following athletes had their performances (over 77.00 m) annulled due to doping offences: • Tatyana Lysenko (Russia) 78.80 (2013) and 78.15 (2013). • Aksana Miankova (Belarus) 78.69 and 78.19 (both 2012). • Gulfiya Agafonova (Russia) 77.36 (2007). ==Olympic medalists==

Men Women ==World Championships medalists==

Men Women ==World leading marks==