The men's hammer throw event at the 1952 Summer Olympics took place on 24 July at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. There were 33 competitors from 18 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by József Csermák of Hungary, the nation's second consecutive victory in the event. Imre Németh, who had won four years earlier, took bronze; he was the fourth man to win multiple medals in the event. Silver went to Karl Storch of Germany.

Background

This was the 11th appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1896. Six of the 13 finalists from the 1948 Games returned: gold medalist Imre Németh of Hungary, silver medalist Ivan Gubijan of Yugoslavia, fourth-place finisher Samuel Felton of the United States, fifth-place finisher Lauri Tamminen of Finland, seventh-place finisher Teseo Taddia of Italy, and eleventh-place finisher Duncan Clark of Great Britain. Németh was among the favorites to repeat; other contenders included 1950 European champion Sverre Strandli of Norway and Karl Storch of Germany.

Belgium, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Romania, and the Soviet Union each made their debut in the event. The United States appeared for the 11th time, the only nation to have competed at each appearance of the event to that point.

Competition format

The competition used the two-round format introduced in 1936, with the qualifying round completely separate from the divided final. In qualifying, each athlete received three attempts; those recording a mark of at least 49.00 metres advanced to the final. If fewer than 12 athletes achieved that distance, the top 12 would advance. 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.Official Report, p. 323.

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

József Csermák set a new Olympic record with a distance of 57.20 metres in the qualifying round. In the final, five men beat the old Olympic record and a sixth man tied it; the three medalists all bettered Csermák's qualifying round mark. Csermák's first throw in the final went 58.45 metres; his third went 60.34 metres for a new world record.

Schedule

All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)

Date Time Round Thursday, 24 July 1952 11:3016:45 QualifyingFinal

Results

Qualifying round

Qualification: All throwers reaching 49 metres advanced to the final, with a minimum of 12 advancing.

Rank Group Athlete Nation 1 2 3 Distance Notes 1 A József Csermák 57.20 — — 57.20 2 A Karl Storch X 55.35 — 55.35 3 B Sverre Strandli 54.96 — — 54.96 4 A Ivan Gubijan 54.76 — — 54.76 5 A Karl Wolf 53.86 — — 53.86 6 B Teseo Taddia 53.85 — — 53.85 7 A Miloš Máca 53.72 — — 53.72 8 B Heorhiy Dybenko X 53.70 — 53.70 9 A Jiří Dadák 53.66 — — 53.66 10 A Imre Németh 53.59 — — 53.59 11 B Mykola Redkin X 53.58 — 53.58 12 A Oiva Halmetoja 52.55 — — 52.55 13 B Mikhail Krivonosov X 51.15 — 51.15 14 B Constantin Dumitru 50.92 — — 50.92 15 A Samuel Felton 50.89 — — 50.89 16 B Poul Cederquist 50.77 — — 50.77 17 A Duncan Clark 50.69 — — 50.69 18 B Peter Allday X 50.59 — 50.59 19 B Reino Kuivamäki 47.96 50.58 — 50.58 20 A Marty Engel X 50.00 — 50.00 21 B Rudolf Galin 49.98 — — 49.98 22 B Pierre Legrain 49.75 — — 49.75 23 B Bob Backus 49.39 — — 49.39 24 B Henri Haest 49.08 — — 49.08 25 A Lauri Tamminen X 47.74 49.05 49.05 26 B Aivo Lucioli 48.74 X X 48.74 27 A Roger Veeser 47.72 48.60 X 48.60 28 A Fazal Hussain 47.80 48.36 45.82 48.36 29 A Ewan Douglas X X 48.25 48.25 30 A André Osterberger X X 47.87 47.87 31 A Muhammad Igbal X 47.45 X 47.45 32 A Arturo Melcher X 41.67 45.55 45.55 — A Jaime Annexy X X X — A Aleksandar Bereč — A Nicolae Gurau — A Svend Aage Frederiksen — B Bogdan Masłowski — B Charles Reidy — B Toma Balcı

Final

Rank Athlete Nation 1 2 3 4 5 6 Distance Notes József Csermák 58.45 57.28 60.34 49.68 X X 60.34 Karl Storch X 56.45 58.18 58.86 57.80 58.34 58.86 Imre Németh 54.92 55.05 56.82 54.95 57.74 56.30 57.74 4 Jiří Dadák 54.00 56.81 X 51.72 55.61 54.04 56.81 5 Mykola Redkin 53.08 56.55 52.30 53.55 X 54.16 56.55 6 Karl Wolf 56.49 54.98 53.79 53.60 X 56.41 56.49 7 Sverre Strandli 56.36 53.77 55.07 Did not advance 56.36 8 Heorhiy Dybenko 55.03 X 53.68 Did not advance 55.03 9 Ivan Gubijan 53.53 53.82 54.54 Did not advance 54.54 10 Teseo Taddia X X 54.27 Did not advance 54.27 11 Samuel Felton 53.10 X 53.32 Did not advance 53.32 12 Constantin Dumitru 52.77 X 50.62 Did not advance 52.77 13 Bob Backus X 52.11 X Did not advance 52.11 14 Reino Kuivamäki 51.85 X 51.59 Did not advance 51.85 15 Miloš Máca 51.78 46.89 48.99 Did not advance 51.78 16 Poul Cederquist X 46.58 51.60 Did not advance 51.60 17 Rudolf Galin 51.37 X 50.21 Did not advance 51.37 18 Duncan Clark 51.07 X 48.95 Did not advance 51.07 19 Oiva Halmetoja 50.75 50.82 X Did not advance 50.82 20 Lauri Tamminen X X 50.05 Did not advance 50.05 21 Peter Allday 44.20 49.70 X Did not advance 49.70 22 Henri Haest X 48.78 48.50 Did not advance 48.78 23 Pierre Legrain 44.83 X 46.38 Did not advance 46.38 — Marty Engel X X X Did not advance Mikhail Krivonosov X X X Did not advance

References

External links Official Olympic Report, la84.org.