Hammer Throw

A metal ball on a steel wire with a handle, the whole thing weighing 7.26 kilograms for men and 4 kilograms for women and measuring about 1.2 metres. The thrower swings it around the head, then makes three or four fast turns across a 2.135-metre circle and lets go into a 34.92-degree sector. A cage surrounds the circle, because a hammer released a fraction late goes a long way in the wrong direction. Stepping out before the hammer lands voids the throw, and so does a throw that lands on the sector line. Distances are measured to the centimetre below. Wind plays no part, and the event is one of the few where the very best marks are decades old.