Records

Russia’s Sedykh had had things pretty much his own way in the late 1970s, but the emergence of his compatriot Sergey Litvinov changed all that and they passed the world record back and forth during the 1980s. On one of the occasions Sedykh won it back, he retained his Olympic title at Moscow in 1980.

But the pinnacle of Sedykh’s career came in the summer of 1986 when he threw 86.74m at the European Championships.

Amid a joyous and charged atmosphere in the Olympic stadium, Wlodarczyk, the new Polish record holder, capped a year of improvements with a stellar second round throw. Perfectly precise in power and timing she added 0.16 to Tatyana Lysenko’s 2006 world record mark, and then promptly injured her ankle while celebrating. Wlodarczyk passed on the next three rounds as Germany’s defending champion Betty Heidler, roared on by the crowd, got within 84cm of her with her penultimate attempt. Wlodarczyk held on, and even found time between rounds to watch Jamaica’s 4x100m team, including Usain Bolt, take gold too.