Poles, who have dominated the world hammer throw for years, were considered by everyone to be among the favourites for the Olympic final in Paris. Unfortunately, this time our two aces had to admit the superiority of their rivals. The gold medal was decided by the Canadian Katzberg with his first throw. The world champion from Budapest, extremely dynamic in the circle, threw the hammer to an excellent 84.12. None of his rivals came close to this result. No one else threw even 80 metres in the Olympic final! The Poles started off averagely, but their results from the first round – 78.01 by Fajdek and 77.42 by Nowicki – could give hope for better subsequent attempts. Our hammer throwers were classified in fifth and seventh place almost throughout the entire competition. Although Fajdek improved in the third and fourth rounds to 78.57 and 78.80, he did not manage to win a medal. He was classified in fifth place. Nowicki, the defending Olympic champion, did not improve his result from the first round. The result of 77.42 ultimately gave him seventh place.
The Olympic champion was Ethan Katzberg, who beat the second placed Hungarian Halász (79.97) and the third placed Ukrainian Kochan (79.39) by over four metres.
Maciej Jałoszyński / photo: Łukasz Szeląg
