| Men's hammer throw at the Games of the XXIV Olympiad | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Athletics pictogram | ||||||||||
| Venues | Olympic Stadium | |||||||||
| Dates | September 25, 1988 (1988-09-25) (qualifying) September 26, 1988 (1988-09-26) (final) | |||||||||
| Competitors | 30 from 16 nations | |||||||||
| Winning distance | 84.80OR | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Track events | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| 400 m | men | women |
| 800 m | men | women |
| 1500 m | men | women |
| 3000 m | women | |
| 5000 m | men | |
| 10,000 m | men | women |
| 100 m hurdles | women | |
| 110 m hurdles | men | |
| 400 m hurdles | men | women |
| 3000 m steeplechase | men | |
| 4 × 100 m relay | men | women |
| 4 × 400 m relay | men | women |
| Road events | ||
| Marathon | men | women |
| 20 km walk | men | |
| 50 km walk | men | |
| Field events | ||
| Long jump | men | women |
| Triple jump | men | |
| High jump | men | women |
| Pole vault | men | |
| Shot put | men | women |
| Discus throw | men | women |
| Javelin throw | men | women |
| Hammer throw | men | |
| Combined events | ||
| Heptathlon | women | |
| Decathlon | men | |
| Wheelchair races | ||
The men'shammer throw at the1988 Summer Olympics inSeoul, South Korea had an entry list of 30 competitors from 16 nations, with two qualifying groups before the final (12) took place on Monday September 26, 1988. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. In the final round the eight highest-ranked competitors after three rounds qualified for the final three throws to decide the medals.[1] The event was won bySergey Litvinov of the Soviet Union, the nation's sixth victory in the event (second-most all-time behind the United States' seven). The Soviet team completed the medal sweep, withYuriy Sedykh taking silver andJüri Tamm bronze. It was the Soviets' third medal sweep in four Games, with only the boycotted 1984 Games missing. The 1988 team was the same as the 1980 squad, with Litvinov and Sedykh trading places. Litvinov and Tamm were the ninth and tenth men to earn multiple medals in the hammer throw, while Sedykh (the eighth man to do so) became the fourth to win three medals; his two golds and a silver trailed onlyJohn Flanagan's three gold medals in Olympic success.
This was the 20th appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1896. Four of the 12 finalists from the 1984 Games returned: gold medalistJuha Tiainen and sixth-place finisherHarri Huhtala of Finland, andChristoph Sahner of West Germany andMatthew Mileham of Great Britain, both of whom had failed to make a legal mark in the final. Also returning were SovietsYuriy Sedykh,Sergey Litvinov, andJüri Tamm, who had swept the medals (in that order) in 1980 but had been kept out of the 1984 Games due to the Soviet-led boycott. Sedykh had also won gold in 1976. He and Litvinov had dominated the event since that year, with Sedykh winning two Olympic gold medals and Litvinov winning both World Championships to date (1983 and 1987). Sedykh's world record of 86.74 metres, set in 1986, still stands as of 2021. Tamm was also a serious contender; in addition to the 1980 bronze, he had finished second at the 1987 World Championship.[2]
No nations made their debut in the event. The United States appeared for the 19th time, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.
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 77.00 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 eight competitors receiving an additional three attempts. The best distance among those six throws counted.[2][3]
Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record |  Yuriy Sedykh (URS) | 86.74 | Stuttgart,West Germany | 30 August 1986 |
| Olympic record | Yuriy Sedykh (URS) | 81.80 | Moscow,Soviet Union | 31 July 1980 |
Sergey Litvinov broke the Olympic record with his first throw in the final, of 84.76 metres, and improved on that with his fifth throw, of 84.80 metres. All six of Litvinov's throws in the final surpassed the old record, as did four of Sedykh's five legal marks.
All times areKorea Standard Time adjusted for daylight savings (UTC+10)
| Date | Time | Round |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday, 25 September 1988 | 9:00 | Qualifying |
| Monday, 26 September 1988 | 12:40 | Final |
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Distance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Sergey Litvinov | Soviet Union | 84.76OR | 83.82 | 83.86 | 83.98 | 84.80OR | 83.80 | 84.80 | OR |
 | Yuriy Sedykh | Soviet Union | 80.96 | 83.62 | 83.44 | 83.44 | X | 83.76 | 83.76 | |
 | Jüri Tamm | Soviet Union | 80.94 | 81.16 | X | X | X | X | 81.16 | |
| 4 | Ralf Haber |  East Germany | 78.92 | 78.72 | 79.18 | X | 78.88 | 80.44 | 80.44 | |
| 5 | Heinz Weis |  West Germany | 78.50 | 76.80 | X | 77.70 | 78.98 | 79.16 | 79.16 | |
| 6 | Tibor Gécsek |  Hungary | 78.18 | 76.52 | 74.36 | 77.82 | X | 78.36 | 78.36 | |
| 7 | Imre Szitás | Hungary | 76.00 | 76.40 | 76.20 | 75.66 | 76.10 | 77.04 | 77.04 | |
| 8 | Ivan Tanev |  Bulgaria | 75.56 | 75.76 | X | 75.28 | 75.54 | 76.08 | 76.08 | |
| 9 | Harri Huhtala |  Finland | 75.26 | 75.38 | 75.08 | Did not advance | 75.38 | |||
| 10 | Johann Lindner |  Austria | 75.36 | 75.14 | 75.28 | Did not advance | 75.36 | |||
| 11 | Tore Gustafsson |  Sweden | 74.24 | 73.32 | X | Did not advance | 74.24 | |||
| 12 | Günther Rodehau | East Germany | X | X | 72.36 | Did not advance | 72.36 | |||
