Grief
Olympic hammer throw champion Bondarchuk dies
Anatoliy Bondarchuk is a legend in hammer throwing. He was the first man to break the 75-meter mark. Now he has died.
Former Ukrainian hammer thrower Anatoliy Bondarchuk has died at the age of 85. As the European Athletics Federation announced, the 1972 Olympic champion died on December 23rd.
Bondarchuk achieved his breakthrough in 1969: At the European Championships in Athens, at the time still representing the Soviet Union, he hurled the hammer to a world record distance of 74.68 meters. Just about a month later, with a new record distance of 75.48 meters, he became the first hammer thrower to break the 75-meter mark.
It was not until 1971 that the German Walter Schmidt (76.40 meters) surpassed him. In 1972, Bondarchuk crowned his career with an Olympic victory in Munich.
Also successful as a trainer
After his sporting career ended at the 1976 Olympics, where he won bronze, Bondarchuk became a coach. He initially looked after athletes from the Soviet Union, then also from Portugal and Kuwait.
He celebrated his greatest successes with the Russian-born Yuri Sedych, who won Olympic gold in 1976 and 1980. At the 1986 European Championships in Stuttgart he achieved the still valid world record in the hammer throw with 86.74 meters. In addition, Sedych, who died in September 2021, became world champion in 1991.
Bondarchuk moved to Canada in the mid-2000s and trained there, among others, the shot putter Dylan Armstrong, Olympic bronze medalist in 2008. He also advised Olympic hammer throw champion and world champion Ethan Katzberg.
dpa
