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
Matt McGrath  United States Duncan Gillis  Canada Clarence Childs  United States

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

Sources

• Bergvall, Erik (ed.) (1913). Adams-Ray, Edward (trans.). (ed.). The Official Report of the Olympic Games of Stockholm 1912. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
• Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Retrieved 5 January 2007.