Hammer throw, women

What to remember

On August 28, 2016, at the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial in Warsaw, Poland's Anita Włodarczyk threw the hammer 82.98 m in front of a home crowd. Earlier that year she had already pushed the record to 82.29 m. The women's hammer is a 4 kg metal ball attached to a grip by a steel wire; the three parts can move independently.

The hammer is one of the four throwing events of outdoor athletics, alongside the discus, shot put and javelin. Men have thrown it at the Olympics since 1900, while the IAAF only made the women's event official in 1995, which keeps the history short. In 1999, Romania's Mihaela Melinte threw 76.07 m; in 2009, Włodarczyk reached 77.96 m. Between 1999 and 2016 the record rose by 9.1%.

Born on August 8, 1985, Włodarczyk was the first woman in history to throw the hammer over 80 m. She is the 2012, 2016 and 2020 Olympic champion and won four world titles, in 2009, 2013, 2015 and 2017. She was voted Polish Sports Personality of the Year in 2016.