 Hal Connolly in 1964 | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | August 1, 1931 Somerville, Massachusetts, United States | |||||||||||
| Died | August 18, 2010 (aged 79) Catonsville, Maryland, United States | |||||||||||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | |||||||||||
| Weight | 106 kg (234 lb) | |||||||||||
Spouse(s) | Olga Fikotová (1957-1975) Pat Daniels (1976-2010) | |||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||
| Country |  United States | |||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | |||||||||||
Event(s) | Hammer throw, shot put | |||||||||||
| Club | Southern California Striders, Anaheim | |||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||
| Personalbest(s) | HT – 71.26 m (1965) SP – 14.72 m (1951) | |||||||||||
Medal record
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Harold Vincent "Hal"Connolly (August 1, 1931 – August 18, 2010) was an Americanathlete andhammer thrower fromSomerville, Massachusetts. He won agold medal in the hammer throw at the1956 Summer Olympics inMelbourne.[1] Connolly became the first American to throw a hammer more than 200 feet.[2] He set his first of sixworld records just prior to the 1956 Olympics, and held the world record for nearly 10 years.
After his gold medal, Connolly competed in three more Olympics, finishing eighth in 1960, sixth in 1964 and not qualifying for the final in 1968.[1] In 1972, he finished fifth in the United States trials and failed to make the team.[3]
Connolly sustained severe nerve damage to his left arm during birth, prohibiting the limb from ever developing properly. He fractured it 13 times as a child. His left arm grew to be four and a half inches shorter than his right and his left hand two-thirds the size of his right.[3]The New York Times noted, "When he won his Olympic gold medal, photographers yelled at him to raise his arms in triumph. He lifted only his right arm."[3]
Connolly received his undergraduate degree fromBoston College in 1952 and attended graduate school atUCLA. Both during and after his athletic career, Connolly worked as a teacher in theSanta Monica school system. In 1988, he then retired and accepted a position as an executive director ofSpecial Olympics, where he would serve for the next 11 years. Until his death, he coached youth athletes and served as the Junior Hammer Development Chairmen forUS Track and Field Association. He was one of the leading promoters for the next generation of hammer throwers.
During the 1956 Games, Connolly began a relationship withCzechdiscus throwerOlga Fikotova, a fellow gold medal winner.[4] They married after the Olympics, the following year in Prague—in three ceremonies there, with a celebration before 40,000 well-wishers.[3] The best man at their wedding ceremony was Czech runnerEmil Zátopek. They were divorced in 1975,[2] and the following year, he marriedPat Winslow, a former coach of track starEvelyn Ashford and herself a three-time Olympian in the800 meters andpentathlon.[1]
A son from his first marriage, Jim Connolly, was theNCAAdecathlon champion forUCLA in 1987;[5] Adam Connolly, a son from his second marriage, was America's third-ranked hammer thrower in 1999.[2][3]
In 1984 Connolly was elected into theNational Track and Field Hall of Fame.[2]
A statue of Connolly is located at the former Taft Elementary School inBrighton, Massachusetts, and depicts his gold medal-winning hammer throw at the 1956 Olympic Games.[6]
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| Preceded by | Men's Hammer World Record Holder November 2, 1956 – September 4, 1965 | Succeeded by |
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