Weight Throw History

The weight throw is an indoor event, and has similar characteristics of the hammer, however, the weight has a shorter wire, and greater weight, so that it can be thrown indoors. The weight is for most hammer throwers a training event for their outdoor season, as the weight throw is not contested at the World Championships and Olympic Games, as the hammer throw is.

The hammer throw has seen its existence since the Highlanders of Scotland, when they threw actual sledge hammers, hence the name, and has been an Olympic Sport since 1900. The hammer throw has evolved over the years and has seen a lot of progressions in the sport, with the Men’s world record occurring in 1986 by Yuriy Sedykh of USSR with a throw of 86.74-meters, or 284’7” and the female world record set in 2016 by Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland with a throw of 82.98-meters or 272’3”. Aside from the records progressing throughout the years, in the later 1990’s and the beginning of this century, the high school athletes have seen a rapid increase in both of these two throwing events, the weight and hammer throw. I feel that this began with my former college teammate Thomas Jacob Freeman, who was a multi-time All-American, National Champion, and former American Record holder in each of the events, easily out throwing others by large lengths. After the emergence in the late 1990’s by the Rhode Island throwers, many states and athletes across the country have picked up the two events.

The weight throw, on the other hand, also has not gained the popularity that the hammer throw has, outside of the American High School and Collegiate competitions. This event is not contested at the World Championships, however, is a high school, NCAA, and USATF nationally contested event, as you can see with the World Records in the event, which is dominated by the Americans. The men’s 35-pound World Record is set by Lance Deal of the United States, with a throw of 84’10” and the women’s World Record is currently set at 83'11.75" by Gwen Berry.

In both the weight and in the hammer the stronger the athlete is, the more force and speed that can be applied on the hammer. In the linear sense, when the athlete is moving the ball forward through the first winds and turns in the circle, the athlete is accelerating the ball horizontally through both rotational and linear movements. After understanding the horizontal forces one must understand the vertical force in the hammer, and this is shown with the orbit of the ball throughout the circle. While moving the ball in the orbit, a 16-pound hammer may produce a ground reaction force more than 700 pounds, which is where the strength comes into play, since the hammer is now exerting a great force on the thrower. A force of 700 pounds that is placed on the ground (ground reaction force) must have an equal force that will be in the opposite direction, thus the greater the speed and force you place on the hammer ball in a downward fashion, the athlete will then generate the same force in the opposite or upward direction (Newton’s Third Law of Motion). To benefit from this, the release angle of the

hammer must be optimal. Thus, by accelerating the hammer through the circle the athlete is gaining velocity. The shape of the orbit, by having both a high point and low point, is creating great force due to the accelerating nature that the velocity is placing on the ball as it is moving from high to low. If the athlete cannot control both speed and strength in this event, then the attempt is futile.