Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's hammer throw

The Men's hammer throw competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom was held at the Olympic Stadium on 3–5 August. Each athlete receives three throws in the qualifying round. All who achieve the qualifying distance progress to the final. If less than twelve athletes achieve this mark, then the twelve furthest throwing athletes reach the final.

Contents

• Schedule
• Records
• Qualifying Round
• References

After a retesting of his 2004 sample, 2012 world leader Ivan Tsikhan's entry was withdrawn.

In the preliminary round, Primož Kozmus only needed one throw to make the automatic qualifier, while Krisztián Pars threw the best qualifying effort 79.37 on his second attempt. Koji Murofushi was the only other automatic qualifier, also in his second attempt. It took 74.69 to make the final.

Pars entered the final with the best 2012 performance among the finalists and took the lead with his first throw. Immediately before him, Kozmus threw far enough to win silver. Olexiy Sokyrskiyy put himself in third place with his second effort. That lasted until the third round when Murofushi's best effort put him in the bronze medal position. But one throw before, Pars let loose the only plus 80 metre throw, solidifying his grasp on the gold medal. After three fouls, in the fifth round Kozmus improved his hold on silver, but was still 1.23 behind the winner.

A great deal of photojournalist attention was devoted to the mini Cooper vehicles being used to retrieve the implements during the competition. The vehicles were used throughout the Olympics, but first appeared in the preliminary round of the hammer.