Hammer Throw, Men

The favorite was Poland’s Paweł Fajdek but he shockingly failed to get through the qualifying. In his absence the gold medal would be won by Tajikistan’s Dilshod Nazarov. Nazarov took the lead in round three with 78.07, and bettered that in round five with 78.68 to win gold. Bronze went to Poland’s Wojciech Nowicki, who moved onto the podium with his final throw of 77.73, moving ahead of Mexico’s Diego del Real. The gold medal by Nazarov was the first ever for Tajikistan at the Olympics, in any sport.

The silver medal was won by Belarussian Ivan Tikhon, who had, shall we say, a somewhat checkered past. Tikhon (sometimes spelled Tsikhan in Belarussian) had initially won silver at the 2004 Olympics, only to lose that for a later revealed doping positive when the samples were re-tested in 2012. At the 2008 Olympics he won a bronze medal only to see that withdrawn on a doping positive. After an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), Tikhon’s 2008 medal was restored. One should consider the Rio results with an eye to future PED re-testing.