Yuriy SEDYKH

 Yuriy Sedykh could easily lay claim to be the greatest hammer thrower of all time, having dominated the event over a fifteen-year period during which time he set six world records and achieved an enviable consistency at major international championships. Young Yuriy's first major victory came in the European Junior Championships at Duisburg in August 1973 (see photo above) where his winning throw of 67.32m was 3.74m further than the next best competitor. Yuriy made steady improvement over the next two years, increasing his personal best to 70.86m in 1974, and then to 75.00m at Donyetsk in August 1975. Sedykh really came of age in 1976, when he recorded the year's best throw of 78.86m at Prague on 12 May, before winning his first Soviet national title at Kiev on 24 June, ahead of veteran Anatoliy Bondarchuk, the reigning Olympic champion, and Aleksey Spiridonov.

In the hammer throw final at the Olympic Games in Montreal on 28 July, Spiridonov led after the first round with an opening throw 10cm further than Sedykh's first effort of 75.64m. Yuriy took the lead with his second round throw of 77.52m, which eventually proved good enough to win the gold medal from Spiridonov, with Bondarchuk completing a clean sweep of the medals for the Soviet Union. In 1978, the world record was broken by first Boris Zaychuk (Soviet Union), and then Karl-Hans Riehm (West Germany). On 16 August at Zurich, Sedykh improved his personal best to 79.76m, which ranked him third on the all-time world list behind Riehm and Zaychuk. However, at the European Championships in Prague on 2 September, it was the younger Sedykh who prevailed, winning the gold medal with his first throw of 77.28m, relegating Riehm to third place, and Zaychuk to a distant sixth. (Ron Casey)

No sooner had Yuriy Sedykh established his ascendency over his older hammer-throwing rivals with victories at the 1976 Olympic Games, and 1978 European Championships, when he himself began to be challenged by younger Soviet compatriot Sergey Litvinov. Sedykh and Litvinov dominated the world of hammer throwing during the 1980's, fuelling an intense on-field rivalry that saw them frequently exchanging world records and victories at major championships. On 16 May 1980, Sedykh set his first world record of 80.38m in the third round at the National Spring Games in Leselidze. This was then broken by compatriot Juri Tamm who threw 80.46m on his third throw, before Sedykh reclaimed the record on his fifth attempt with a throw of 80.64m. This record was short lived however, as only eight days later, Litvinov broke Yuriy's world record when he threw 81.66m.

At a showdown of the recent world record-breakers at the Moscow Olympics on 31 July, Sedykh threw 81.80m on his first throw to win the gold medal (see photo above) and regain the world record. Litvinov and Tamm filled the next two places to complete a clean sweep of the medals for the Soviet Union. Sedykh's world record stood until 4 June 1982, when Litvinov broke it with a throw of 83.98m in Moscow. However, at the European Championships in Athens on 10 September, it was Sedykh who prevailed, winning the gold medal with a throw of 81.66m, which was exactly three metres further than Litvinovís bronze-medal-winning throw. At the inaugural World Championships in Helsinki on 9 August 1983, Litvinov again entered the competition as the world record holder, but this time he beat Sedykh, winning the gold medal in the first round with a throw of 82.68m, while Sedykh's silver medal-winning toss of 80.94m came on his fourth attempt. (Ron Casey)

A third European Championships gold & an Olympic silver medal.

Yuriy Sedykh had been the dominant force amongst the world's hammer throwers in the late 1970's and early 1980's, winning gold medals at both the 1976 and 1980 Olympics, as well as at both the 1978 and 1982 European Championships. But from 1980 onwards, his supremacy started to be challenged by Soviet compatriot Sergey Litvinov, who had restricted Yuriy to a silver medal at the 1983 World Championships. Sedykh reclaimed his world record in spectacular fashion at Cork on 3 July 1984, when the first four of his throws all exceeded Litvinov's existing world record of 84.14m, with his best effort of 86.34m coming in the first round. Both Sedykh and Litvinov were denied the opportunity to continue their rivalry at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles due to the Soviet boycott.

Sedykh increased his world record to 86.66m on 22 July 1986, just two weeks before the European Championships at Stuttgart. However, at Stuttgart, it was Litvinov who took the early lead with his opening throw of 85.74m, until Sedykh finished the competition in sensational fashion. Yuriy's fourth round throw of 86.74m broke his own world record and secured his third consecutive European title. His fifth throw of 86.68m was also beyond his existing world record, and his final round effort of 86.62m was the fourth longest throw of all time. Sedykh took a relatively low-key approach to competition in 1987, in order to train for the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, and in his absence, Litvinov easily retained his world title in Rome. On 26 September 1988, the long awaited rematch between Sedykh and Litvinov at the Olympic Games in Seoul (see photo above) turned into a bit of an anticlimax, as all of Litvinov's six throws exceeded Sedykh's best throw of 83.76m that won him the silver medal. (Ron Casey)

A first World Championship title  and a 6th career Gold medal, in 1991.

Yuriy Sedykh and his Soviet compatriot Sergey Litvinov had dominated the world of hammer throwing during the 1980's, fuelling an intense on-field rivalry that saw them frequently exchanging world records and victories at major championships. Their most recent duel had occurred at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul where Sedykh had won the silver medal behind Litvinov's gold. The rivalry between Sedykh and Litvinov had spawned a new generation of Soviet hammer throwers, who now started to challenge the supremacy of the two old foes, making it difficult to qualify for national teams to international championships.

The 35 year-old Sedykh was the fourth-ranked hammer thrower in the world in 1990, but unfortunately he was also the fourth-ranked Soviet thrower, and it was the three throwers ahead of him who comprised the Soviet team to the 1990 European Championships in Split, thus denying Yuriy the opportunity to try for a fourth consecutive European title. It seemed that Sedykh was destined for the same fate in 1991, when he finished fourth at the Soviet national championships in Kiev on 11 July. But this was his only defeat of the year, and he had done enough at other meets, including a win at Saint Denis on 19 July at which many of the world's top throwers were in attendance, to earn a spot on the Soviet team to the World Championships in Tokyo. In the hammer throw final at Tokyo on 25 August (see photo above), Sedykh gave his younger rivals a lesson in keeping one's nerve at major championships when he won the gold medal, sending three of his throws further than the best throw of any of his rivals.

Although Yuriy continued to compete for several more years, that was the last time he gained selection to a major international championships. (Ron Casey)