Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics – Men's hammer throw
| Men's hammer throw at the Games of the V Olympiad | ||||||||||
 McGrath on the way to win the gold medal. | ||||||||||
| Venue | Stockholm Olympic Stadium | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | July 14 | |||||||||
| Competitors | 14 from 4 nations | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics  | ||
|---|---|---|
| Track events | ||
| 100 m | men | |
| 200 m | men | |
| 400 m | men | |
| 800 m | men | |
| 1500 m | men | |
| 5000 m | men | |
| 10,000 m | men | |
| 110 m hurdles | men | |
| 4×100 m relay | men | |
| 4×400 m relay | men | |
| 3000 m team race | men | |
| 10 km walk | men | |
| Road events | ||
| Marathon | men | |
| Field events | ||
| Long jump | men | |
| Triple jump | men | |
| High jump | men | |
| Pole vault | men | |
| Standing long jump | men | |
| Standing high jump | men | |
| Shot put | men | |
| Discus throw | men | |
| Hammer throw | men | |
| Javelin throw | men | |
| 2-hand shot put | men | |
| 2-hand discus | men | |
| 2-hand javelin | men | |
| Combined events | ||
| Pentathlon | men | |
| Decathlon | men | |
| Cross-country events | ||
| Individual | men | |
| Team | men | |
The men's hammer throw was a track and field athletics event held as part of the athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fourth appearance of the event, which had been won all three previous times by John Flanagan. The competition was held on Sunday, July 14, 1912.
Fourteen hammer throwers from four nations competed.
Records
These were the standing world and Olympic records (in metres) prior to the 1912 Summer Olympics.
| World Record | 57.10(*) |  Matt McGrath |
New York (USA) | October 29, 1911 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olympic Record | 51.92 | John Flanagan |
London (GBR) | July 14, 1908 |
(*) unofficial
Matt McGrath set a new Olympic record in the qualification with 54.13 metres and improved his record in the final with 54.74 metres.
Results
Flanagan, who had won all three prior editions of the Olympic hammer throw and held the Olympic record of 51.92 metres, had retired since the 1908 Olympic Games. McGrath took the gold medal, besting Flanagan's Olympic record with all four of his legal marks. No other thrower beat Flanagan's Olympic mark.
| Place | Athlete | Preliminary | Final | Best mark | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | Rank | 4 | 5 | 6 | ||||
| 1 |  Matt McGrath (USA) |
54.13 OR | — | — | 1st | 52.83 | 53.90 | 54.74 OR | 54.74 | |
| 2 |  Duncan Gillis (CAN) |
46.17 | — | 48.39 | 2nd | — | 47.24 | — | 48.39 | |
| 3 | Clarence Childs (USA) |
48.17 | — | — | 3rd | — | — | — | 48.17 | |
| 4 |  Robert Olsson (SWE) |
39.56 | 46.50 | — | 4th | 46.50 | ||||
| 5 | Carl Johan Lind (SWE) |
45.06 | — | 45.61 | 5th | 45.61 | ||||
| 6 |  Denis Carey (GBR) |
38.99 | 43.78 | — | 6th | 43.78 | ||||
| 7 | Nils Linde (SWE) |
43.32 | — | — | 7th | 43.32 | ||||
| 8 | Carl Jahnzon (SWE) |
39.18 | 42.58 | — | 8th | 42.58 | ||||
| Ralph Rose (USA) |
— | 40.80 | 42.58 | 8th | 42.58 | |||||
| 10 | Arvid Åberg (SWE) |
— | — | 41.11 | 10th | 41.11 | ||||
| 11 | Gunnar Johnson (SWE) |
38.66 | 39.92 | — | 11th | 39.92 | ||||
| 12 | Benjamin Sherman (USA) |
38.71 | — | 38.77 | 12th | 38.77 | ||||
| 13 | Viktor Hackberg (SWE) |
— | — | 38.44 | 13th | 38.44 | ||||
| 14 | Simon Gillis (USA) |
— | 14th | None | ||||||
References
- sports-reference.com
- Bergvall, Erik (ed.) (1913). Adams-Ray, Edward (trans.)., ed. The Official Report of the Olympic Games of Stockholm 1912. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand.
- Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Retrieved 5 January 2007.