Hal Connolly
Harold Vincent " Hal " Connolly ( born August 1, 1931 in Somerville, Massachusetts, † August 18, 2010 in Catonsville, Baltimore County, Maryland) was an American track and field athlete. He won the gold medal in the hammer throw at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne.
Life
Connolly was originally supposed to be a boxer. However, since his left arm was shortened due to multiple fractures around nine inches, is this could not be achieved and he opted for the hammer throw. He took 1956 to 1968 at four Olympic Games in part, but could only win a medal in 1956. He won twelve national titles and improved the hammer throw world record seven times. On August 12, 1960, he managed to meet with a thrown width of 70.33 meters, the 70 -meter mark as the first hammer thrower.
Caused a sensation in his marriage to the Czechoslovak discus thrower Olga Fikotová in October 1957 that he had met at the Olympic Games in 1956. The marriage was ( according to other sources: 1975 ) in 1973 divorced. Harold Connolly later married the three -time Olympian athletics Pat Winslow.
Hal Connolly was 1.83 m tall and weighed 106 kg in his playing days. After his athletic career, he worked as a teacher, he also worked for the Special Olympics and operated a Hammer Throw site. In 1999, he admitted to have doped during his playing days. In 2005, a statue was erected in front of his former school, which shows the Connolly hammer throw. In addition, he was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.