Harold Connolly
Harold Connolly was a great American Hammer Thrower. In spite of permanent damage to his left shoulder leaving left arm slightly shorter than the right arm, Connolly recorded the first ever 70m hammer throw in history, 70.33m, on August 12, 1960. He won the 1956 Olympic Games, and set six world records from 1956 to 1965, also at hammer throw. He started to throw the hammer, for he thought it is a good event to strengthen the whole body, because the event requires the use of both arms not just one. To compensate for his shorter left arm, he wrapped the left hand with the towel during the weight lifting session. At this point I would like to write about one of my favorite episodes from the Melbourne (1956) Olympics.

Olympics
Even after arriving in Melbourne, Hal (Harold’s nickname), despite the various experience of overcoming difficulty, was very tense before his first Olympics. At Melbourne, he had to challenge Mikhail Krivonosov, a great Soviet hammer thrower.

After thinking long and hard about the way to beat Krivonosov, the favorite for the gold medal, Hal came up with an idea that will devastate the Soviet thrower psychologically. His plan was as follows: He would go to a training facility used by Soviet throwers. During their absence, he would throw the hammer from the front of the throwing circle, so his hammer would land and leave the marks well beyond the marks left by Soviet throwers. The idea was to break the Soviet throwers confidence.

Because it was during the peak of the cold war, Soviet team was practicing at the secret location. It was difficult to find the Soviet’s training facility, but after he was successful, Hal, together with his American team mate, went over to the facility.

After the Soviet throwers left the facility, they tried to train in the facility. However, Hal and his teammate were stopped by the grounds keeper from entering the facility. The ground keeper said, “This is a training facility for the Soviets and so the Americans are not allowed to throw here.” Hal and his teammate, however, did not back down, and eventually grounds keeper gave in. They were able to train in the field. Hal went to see the marks left by Krivonosov’s hammer and saw that several of the marks were near the world record distance. Hal, thinking that it won’t be possible to win the Olympics unless something is done, walked toward the throwing circle. He threw the hammer from the front of the circle, which left several marks well beyond the world record. He then took out the American flag from his teammate’s bag and stuck the flag into the ground by the mark left by his hammer. He told the grounds keeper, “Tell the Soviet throwers that Connelly from the US came here for the practice.” Perhaps Krivonosov was affected by this trick; he was unable to perform to the best of his ability. Hal, on the other hand, was able to throw very relaxed and thus won a gold medal.

Hal, me and my first rival, Adam Connelly
I first met Hal and Adam Connelly, when my father was training in the US for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Adam, Hal’s son, was only one year younger than me, and so naturally we became friends right away. Because Adam was also learning the hammer throw from his father, we practiced together from time to time. Of course, it was not exactly a real training. It was more like a play.

At the time, the IAAF had a plan to produce a throwing video for the children as well as the beginners, and along with several other youth, Adam and I had joined the video production. I still remember the filming session, which left me a great impression. I also learned the joy of hammer throw during the session.

Hal’s method of teaching was very simple, yet at the same time we were able to see the big picture of what the hammer throw is all about. I was able to have very exciting time under Hal’s guidance; I felt from the bottom of my heart that I can have a dream for the future. Furthermore, I can still recall that I thought “If I really try hard, I can also be a great hammer thrower.”

Finally, it may not be many, but I would like to show you several photographs.