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Former Olympic hammer throw champion Connolly dies

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-08-20 10:05

WASHINGTON - American Harold Connolly, the 1956 Melbourne Olympics hammer throw champion and former world record-holder, has died, USA Track and Field announced Thursday. He was 79.

Connolly, who died on Wednesday, competed for the United States at four Olympics. He also finished eighth in 1960 at Rome and sixth in 1964 at Tokyo but failing to reach the 1968 Mexico City finals.

The 12-time U.S. champion set six world records in a sport he began to help strength a left arm that was slightly withered at birth and weakened by injuries in wrestling and American football.

Connolly met Czechoslovakian discus champion Olga Fikatova in 1956 and they were married in 1957. They divorced 18 years later and Connolly later married Pat Winslow, a three-time U.S. Olympian in 800 meters and pentathlon.