Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's hammer throw

This was the 25th appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1896. Nine of the 12 finalists from the 2004 Games returned: gold medalist (and 2000 finalist) Koji Murofushi of Japan, bronze medalist Eşref Apak of Turkey, fourth-place finisher Vadim Devyatovskiy of Belarus, fifth-place finisher Krisztián Pars of Hungary, sixth-place finisher Primož Kozmus of Slovenia, seventh-place finisher Libor Charfreitag of Slovakia, tenth-place finisher Nicola Vizzoni of Italy, eleventh-place finisher Markus Esser of Germany, and Ivan Tsikhan of Belarus, who at the time was the 2004 silver medalist but who would later be stripped of that medal. Tsikhan was also the three-time reigning (2003, 2005, 2007) World Champion (though the 2005 result would be stripped), with Kozmus the runner-up and Charfreitag third. Szymon Ziółkowski of Poland, the 2000 Olympic and 2001 World champion (and 2005 World Champion after Tsikhan's win was vacated), returned after not making the final in 2004.^[3]

Egypt, Iceland, Latvia, and Turkmenistan each made their debut in the event. The United States appeared for the 24th time, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

The qualifying standards for the 2008 event were 78.50 m (257 ft 7 in) (A standard) and 74.00 m (242 ft 9 in) (B standard).^[5] Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) was able to enter up to three entrants providing they had met the A qualifying standard in the qualifying period (1 January 2007 to 23 July 2008). NOCs were also permitted to enter one athlete providing he had met the B standard in the same qualifying period.^[6] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress.

The competition used the two-round format introduced in 1936, with the qualifying round completely separate from the divided final. In qualifying, each athlete received three attempts; those recording a mark of at least 78.00 metres advanced to the final. If fewer than 12 athletes achieved that distance, the top 12 would advance. The results of the qualifying round were then ignored. Finalists received three throws each, with the top eight competitors receiving an additional three attempts. The best distance among those six throws counted.^[3][7]

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:

World record	Yuriy Sedykh (URS)	86.74	Stuttgart, Germany	30 August 1986
Olympic record	Sergey Litvinov (URS)	84.80	Seoul, South Korea	26 September 1988

No new world or Olympic records were set for this event.

All times are China standard time (UTC+8)

Qualification: 78.00 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) advance to the final.

Rank	Group	Athlete	Nation	1	2	3	Distance	Notes
1	A	Krisztián Pars	Hungary	X	80.07	–	80.07	Q
2	B	Szymon Ziółkowski	Poland	79.55	–	–	79.55	Q, SB
3	B	Primož Kozmus	Slovenia	79.44	–	–	79.44	Q
4	B	Ivan Tsikhan	Belarus	79.26	–	–	79.26	Q
5	A	Koji Murofushi	Japan	78.16	–	–	78.16	Q
6	A	Markus Esser	Germany	X	77.00	77.60	77.60	q
7	A	Andras Haklits	Croatia	74.27	77.12	76.23	77.12	q
8	B	Olli-Pekka Karjalainen	Finland	75.49	X	77.07	77.07	q
9	B	Vadim Devyatovskiy	Belarus	73.39	76.56	76.95	76.95	q
10	B	Libor Charfreitag	Slovakia	76.03	X	76.61	76.61	q
11	B	James Steacy	Canada	76.32	X	75.01	76.32	q
12	A	Dilshod Nazarov	Tajikistan	74.67	75.34	72.47	75.34	q
13	B	Nicola Vizzoni	Italy	72.82	X	75.01	75.01
14	A	Yevhen Vynohradov	Ukraine	73.41	74.49	X	74.49
15	B	Artem Rubanko	Ukraine	74.47	73.89	X	74.47
16	B	Eşref Apak	Turkey	X	74.45	X	74.45
17	A	Valeriy Sviatokha	Belarus	74.41	X	X	74.41
18	A	Alexandros Papadimitriou	Greece	X	74.33	73.83	74.33
19	A	Igors Sokolovs	Latvia	73.72	71.50	X	73.72
20	B	Ali Al-Zinkawi	Kuwait	X	73.62	X	73.62
21	A	Kirill Ikonnikov	Russia	X	72.04	72.33	72.33
22	B	Igor Vinichenko	Russia	X	72.05	X	72.05
23	A	Miloslav Konopka	Slovakia	71.76	71.96	X	71.96
24	A	Ihor Tuhay	Ukraine	71.89	X	70.56	71.89
25	A	Bergur Ingi Pétursson	Iceland	69.73	X	71.63	71.63
26	B	Roman Rozna	Moldova	71.33	69.99	70.23	71.33
27	B	A.G. Kruger	United States	70.58	71.21	X	71.21
28	B	Dorian Çollaku	Albania	69.14	69.84	70.98	70.98
29	A	Lukas Melich	Czech Republic	69.31	70.56	69.03	70.56
30	B	Juan Ignacio Cerra	Argentina	X	70.16	X	70.16
–	A	Mohsen El Anany	Egypt	X	X	X	NM
	B	Amanmurad Hommadov	Turkmenistan	X	X	X	NM
	A	Marco Lingua	Italy	X	X	X	NM

The final was held on 17 August. The eight highest-ranked competitors after three rounds qualified for the final three throws to decide the medals.

Rank	Athlete	Nation	1	2	3	4	5	6	Distance	Notes
	Primož Kozmus	Slovenia	80.75	82.02	80.79	80.64	80.98	80.85	82.02	SB
	Vadim Devyatovskiy	Belarus	79.00	81.61	X	X	80.86	X	81.61	[1]
	Ivan Tsikhan	Belarus	78.49	80.56	79.59	78.89	81.51	80.87	81.51	[1]
4	Krisztián Pars	Hungary	78.05	80.96	X	80.16	80.11	79.83	80.96
5	Koji Murofushi	Japan	79.47	80.71	79.94	77.96	78.22	77.26	80.71
6	Olli-Pekka Karjalainen	Finland	77.92	79.59	78.99	X	78.88	X	79.59	SB
7	Szymon Ziółkowski	Poland	75.92	79.22	79.07	79.04	76.16	X	79.22
8	Libor Charfreitag	Slovakia	X	77.62	76.83	77.26	78.65	X	78.65
9	Markus Esser	Germany	74.56	X	77.10	Did not advance			77.10
10	András Haklits	Croatia	X	75.78	76.58	Did not advance			76.58
11	Dilshod Nazarov	Tajikistan	72.97	76.54	X	Did not advance			76.54
12	James Steacy	Canada	75.72	75.54	74.06	Did not advance			75.72

• 2008 Hammer Throw Year Ranking

• (in English) Final results
• (in English) sports-reference
• (in English) hammerthrow.wz