Golden hammer

Canada's Ethan Katzberg dominates the field with first Olympic throw

- BRUCE ARTHUR

With a distance of 84.12 metres, Ethan Katzberg won a gold medal in hammer throw Sunday - a first for Canada in the sport.

Three years ago, the greatest hammer thrower of all time died about an hour from the Stade de France. Yuriy Sedykh was a Ukrainian who threw for the Soviet Union, and was said to have perfected the interplay between the body and the hammer and the centrifugal physics that made it all go. Also, it was said, they jammed him chock full of steroids. He finished his life as a PE teacher in a Paris suburb and taught the hammer throw abroad; his daughter threw hammer for a while, too. Sedykh died in 2021: heart attack at age 66. His record throw of 86.74 metres, which has stood since 1986, lives on.

On Sunday night in Paris, Ethan Katzberg stepped into the Olympic ring on the biggest stage in the world. His own father, Bernie, was heavily involved with track and field at the local Nanaimo club, and his big sister Jessica liked hammer throw best, and eventually Ethan did, too. Bernie tried to learn as much as he could about hammer throwing. As Ethan said: “He just wanted to support his kids.” And now Ethan was here.

And on his first Olympic throw, at age 22, Ethan Katzberg threw that 16-pound hammer farther than any of the other competitors had ever thrown in their lives, 84.12 metres, and the competition was all but over.

It was the 11th-longest throw ever; nobody else even topped 80. He tried to top that throw and only landed one more, but it was all he needed and Katzberg is the Olympic champion.