Yury Sedykh

Yury Sedykh, who took up athletics in 1967, was the world’s best hammer thrower in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Sedykh first competed internationally at the 1975 Universiade where he won a bronze medal. At the 1976 Olympics and still virtually unknown he surprised the world by winning a gold medal. In 1978, he won the European title, repeating that victory in 1982 and 1986. Sedykh went into the 1980 Olympics as the favorite for hammer gold, after having thrown two world records (80.38 and 80.64) in the spring of 1980. He did not go to the Olympics as the record holder because Sergey Litvinov had bettered the world record of 81.66 two months before the Olympics, but in the Olympic final Sedykh threw a world record 81.80 in the first round to win his second Olympic gold.

At the 1983 World Championships, Litvinov finally beat Sedykh, who had to settle for a silver medal, but the Soviet boycott of the 1984 Olympics probably cost Sedykh a third Olympic gold, because a month before the Olympics, Sedykh became the first hammer thrower to break the 85 m barrier, setting a world record of 86.34, more than eight metres better than the winning throw made by Juha Tiainen at the 1984 Olympics.

In 1986, Sedykh won the Goodwill Games and set his last two world records (86.66 and 86.74), and the latter, as of May 2020, still stood as the world record. He missed the 1987 World Championships due to injury, but was back at the 1988 Olympics, where Litvinov again defeated him, as he had to settle for silver. In 1991 Sedykh finally won the World Championship. He was also the Soviet hammer champion in 1976, 1978 and 1980.

Sedykh retired from sports after the fall of Soviet Union and moved to Paris, and worked as a hammer throwing coach in France and United States. Sedykh first married the sprinter Lyudmila Kondratyeva and later shot putter Nataliya Lisovskaya, with whom he has a daughter Alexia, who won the hammer throw at the 2010 Youth Olympics.

Personal Best: HT – 86.74 (1986).