JOEY BLUM / CHRONICLE PHOTO- Thoumas Seppänen shows Creswell how to Throw the Hammer. Want to learn more? Joey Blum breaks down the Finnish team make up online at Chronicle1909.com.
Perhaps no athletic event embodies the slogan, Citius, Altius, Fortius, “Swifter, Higher, Stronger” than does the Hammer Throw.
Fresh off a long flight from Finland to Portland, followed by a two-hour bus ride, Finland’s athletes to the World Championship Games at Hayward Field began arriving in Creswell on July 5 for the World Games.
In the Hammer, an athlete throws a metal ball (16 pounds or 7.26 kilograms for men, 4 kg or 8.8 lb for women) that is attached to a grip by a steel wire no longer than (4’ or 1.22m) while remaining inside a seven-foot (2.135m) diameter circle. The thrower’s goal is to throw the hammer as far as they can into a field called the sector.
Hammer throwers generate tremendous force by spinning as a centrifugal corkscrew while grasping the hammer by the cable’s handle and then releasing it at just the right moment, sending the ball hurtling into the air. Discus and shot-put employ similar techniques, but the hammer’s centrifugal force adds a dimension that is almost impossible to appreciate until you’ve done it.
Watching an elite hammer thrower is like watching the great ballet dancer, Mikhail Baryshnikov, spinning on a ballet stage. And because it is so hard and specialized, hammer throwers have their own lore, myths, heroes, and culture.
For safety reasons, Hammer competitions are often contested in safely guarded fields away from stadium centers where throwers compete surrounded by a wire or fabric meshed cage that protects officials, coaches, fans, and other bystanders.
Finland’s team of four throwers is made up of 24-year-old Krista Tervo (13th-ranked in the world), 19-year-old Silja Kosonen (15th in the world) but recently set a world under 20-year-old record in the hammer), 38-year-old Tuomas Seppänen (ranked No. 34 in the world) and 25-year-old Aaron Kangas (ranked 35th in the world).
Kosonen started throwing when she was eight and Tervo started throwing at fourteen. The two throwers share a strong friendship and a lightness of spirit that binds them together and spoke of how fortunate they are that throwing the hammer has brought them to see the United States.
Kangas was a team hockey player but now sticks to the hammer where his ability has him approaching the rarified air of an eighty-meter throw. Seppänen, the team’s most experienced international competitor, understands the reality that high-level athletic performance cannot go on forever. Seppänen speaks with a zen-like philosophical perspective about his event.
“At this point in my career, I know how to throw the hammer, so there isn’t one technical thing I focus on so much as relaxing and being comfortable,” Seppänen said.
Seppänen has had a long career that included overcoming injuries, and doubts about the purpose of throwing the hammer, but now gives himself over to the peace and joy of what he does, savoring every moment and knowing that it can end at any time.
The team arrived in the Willamette valley well before the practice facility at Hayward Field was available, but thanks to the efforts of Creswell’s Lonn Robertson and a core of Creswell supporters, the throwers had a Lance Deal Hammer Cage awaiting them.
Deal, a silver medalist at the 1992 Atlanta Olympics, has been designing and installing cages all over the United States for many years. A legend for his throwing achievements, as well as being known for designing and installing gold standard hammer cages, Deal answered the call of Creswell’s Team Finland supporters by making one of his custom cages available for hammer throwers before he and his wife, Nancy, trucked the cage to Vanderbilt University after the World Games.
With Spencer Butte overseeing things, Finland’s throwers practiced barely five minutes from their hotel in Creswell under the watchful eyes of team coach Kalle Lehmusvuori and Kosonen’s personal coach, Jani Pihkanen. All were excited by the quality and feel of Deal’s cage.
Practicing barely two days after flying from Finland, when asked how they were adjusting, the throwers said the team took precautions to avoid jet lag by not sleeping until they arrived in Creswell.
“The hardest part was the bus ride from Portland,” Tervo said. Seppänen added that the hardest part for him is having the sun go down at nine o’clock. In northern latitude Finland at this time of year, there is almost no darkness.
On July 8, Finland’s athletics team joined a “Creswell Welcomes the Finns” barbeque and community get-together. The Creswell community turned out in great numbers to experience the amazing skills on display by the throwers. A love fest it was, including a handful of Creswell youngsters who boldly took to the cage and threw the hammer.
“Back home few would dare to step in and give it a try,” Tervo said.
A great moment was shared by all when Deal showed up and spoke of other great Finnish hammer throwers, then met and swapped stories and revelry with his fellow hammer throwers. The Finnish team presented Deal with an assortment of Finnish wares, including a club banner, Finland team jersey, Finnish beer, and a bottle of Finish vodka.
Hammer throwing is more than a field event, but a calling, a passion and a joyful expression of sport and physical ability wrapped into the powerful bodies that perform it. Hammer throwing embodies the primal appeal of track and field (athletics) and how it is wired into the core of our human being.
