Track Athletics in Detail (extract)

THROWING THE HAMMER 79 handle, which, on the other hand, is a disadvantage to them, since the centrifugal force is lessened as the square of the distance from the centre. If athletes used a longer handle than the one accepted in America, which is 4 feet long, they could not throw the hammer so well as they do now, unless the performer were of unusual stature, because the head of the hammer would touch the ground in the first few turns and at the final lift.