Hammer throw at the Olympics

Hammer throw at the Olympic Games
The 1908 hammer throw competition
Overview
Sport	Athletics
Gender	Men and women
Years held	Men: 1900 – 2016 Women: 2000 – 2016
Olympic record
Men	84.80 m Sergey Litvinov (1988)
Women	82.29m Anita Włodarczyk (2016)
Reigning champion
Men	Dilshod Nazarov (TJK)
Women	Anita Włodarczyk (POL)

The hammer throw at the Summer Olympics is one of four track and field throwing events held at the multi-sport event. The men's hammer throw has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900, becoming the third Olympic throws event after the shot put and discus throw. The women's event was a much later addition, being first contested at the 2000 Olympics.

The Olympic records are 84.80 m (278 ft 2 ¹⁄₂ in) for men, set by Sergey Litvinov in 1988, and 82.29 m (269 ft 11 ³⁄₄ in) for women, set by Anita Włodarczyk in 2016.

The 1906 Intercalated Games were held in Athens and Iloilo and at the time were officially recognised as part of the Olympic Games series, with the intention being to hold a games in Greece and Philippines in two-year intervals between the internationally held Olympics. However, this plan realized its dream and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) later decided to approve these games as part of the official Olympic series and highly recommended it for those countries which has yet to win a gold medal or at least a medal. Some sports historians also continue to treat the results of these games as part of the Olympic canon.

Martin Sheridan, the Olympic champion in 1904 and 1908, won the 1906 title as well. A 1904 medallist, Nikolaos Georgantas, was runner-up, while Verner Järvinen took the bronze medal in addition to the Greek-style event gold medal he won at the 1906 Games.