World Record: Yuriy Sedykh, Soviet Union 86.74m August 30, 1986 Stuttgart, West Germany
Olympic Record: Sergey Litvinov, Soviet Union 84.80m September 26, 1988 Seoul , South Korea
The abbreviation changed from URS to EUN, but Soviet-based athletes
again took all three medals. It was the fourth time they had done so in
the four Olympic opportunities they had contested between 1976 and
1992. Nikulin led the qualifying with 79.08, and was third with 78.46
at the end of the first round of the final, led by big (1.91/118kg) Igor
Astapkovich’s 80.02. The Belarusian improved to 81.80 in the third
round, but was overtaken by Abduvaliyev in the fourth.
The Leningrad-born Tajikistani spun the ball and chain the quickest
of the three ex-Soviets and yelled loudly at the hammer as it flew out
to 82.54. Astapkovich, with 81.96, and Nikulin, with 81.38, both
improved in the last round. For Nikulin, it had been a long wait, as he
had been the youngest ever 80m thrower in 1980 as a 19 year-old. In
Barcelona he beat the 1964 fourth place of his father, Yuriy. As in 1984,
the fourth-placed man was subsequently disqualified – this time it was
Jud Logan (USA, 79.00), who was caught taking Clenbuterol, a drug
used to bulk up livestock.
United Team
Hungary
Estonia
Germany
United States
Australia
Austria
France
Italy
Argentina
Lithuania
Bulgaria
Great Britain
Czechoslovakia
China
Greece
Sweden
Kuwait
Bahrain
