Hammer Throwing

Hammer throwing, one of the throwing events in track and field, was developed into a sport centuries ago in Ireland, Scotland, and England. Legends trace it to the Tailteann games held in Tara, Ireland, about 2000 D.C., and tell of the Celtic hero Cuchulainn who gripped a chariot wheel by its axle, whirled it around his head, and threw it father than did any other mortal. Wheel hurling was later replaced by throwing a boulder attached to the end of a wooden handle. Among the ancient Teutonic tribes forms on hammer throwing were practiced at religious festivals honoring the God Thor.

The event was popularly contested throughout the Middle Ages; a statue of Joseph O'Hanrahan portrays a half-clad Irish giant hurling the hammer. A 16th century drawing shows King Henry VIII throwing a blacksmith's sledgehammer, the implement from which the event derived its name.

Since 1866 the hammer throw has been a regular part of track and field competitions and England, Scotland, and Ireland. The hammers were made of forged iron, had no prescribed weight, and their handles varied to in length between 3 and 3 1/2 feet. The athlete swung the hammer around his head and threw from a standing position to a distance measured from his forward foot. Later the hammer was thrown a line marked on the field. The best distances achieved were between 130 and 140 feet.

The English standardized the event in 1875 by establishing the weight of the hammer at sixteen pounds and its length at 3 feet six inches and by requiring that it be thrown from a circle seven feet in diameter. For a decade these restrictions reduced the distances, but slowly gave rise to a technique utilizing one or two body turns before the delivery. In 1887 the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States adopted the seven-foot circle and the sixteen-pound hammer, but set is overall length at four feet.

In 1895, A. J. Flanagan of Ireland, using three jumping rotations on the ball of his left foot, originated a new school of hammer throwing. In 1896 he immigrated to the United States and proceeded to improve his world record over the next thirteen years from 147 feet to 184 ft. 4 inches. By a then, the implement had undergone changes resulting in the replacement of the wooden handle by a steel wire connecting the iron ball with a pair of grips.