 The men 's hammer throw became an Olympic event in 1900 but the women 's event – using a 4 kg ( 8 @.@ 82 lb ) weight – was not widely competed until much later , finally featuring on the women 's Olympic programme in 2000 . The distances thrown by male athletes became greater from the 1950s onwards as a result of improved equipment using the denser metals , a switch to concrete throwing areas , and more advanced training techniques . Professional hammer throwers as historically large , strong , <unk> athletes . However , qualities such as refined technique , speed and flexibility have become increasingly important in the modern era as the legal throwing area has been reduced from 90 to 34 @.@ 92 degrees and throwing technique involves three to four controlled <unk> . 
