Athletics at the 1979 Pan American Games – Men's hammer throw

{{Infobox Pan American Games event

|event = Men's hammer throw

|games = 1979

|caption =

|venue = Estadio Sixto Escobar

|dates = 12 July

|competitors =

|nations =

|win_value = 69.64

|win_label = Winning distance

|gold = Scott Neilson

|goldNOC = CAN

|silver = Armando Orozco

|silverNOC = CUB

|bronze = Genovevo Morejón

|bronzeNOC = CUB

|prev = 1975

|next = 1983

}}

The men's hammer throw competition of the athletics events at the 1979 Pan American Games took place at the Estadio Sixto Escobar.{{cite book|title=Memoria VIII Juegos Deportivos Panamericanos San Juan, Puerto Rico 1979|date=1981|language=es|publisher=1979 Pan American Games Organising Committee (COPAN 79)|page=197|url=https://www.panamsports.org/downloads/pdf/panamgames/1979-san-juan-tomo-1-lq.pdf|format=PDF|access-date=2019-08-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811030601/https://www.panamsports.org/downloads/pdf/panamgames/1979-san-juan-tomo-1-lq.pdf|archive-date=2019-08-11|url-status=dead}}[http://atfs.org/wp-content/uploads/Pan-Am-Games-1979.pdf Full results] The defending Pan American Games champion was Larry Hart of the United States.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Pan American Games records were as follows:

class="wikitable"

World record

|{{flagathlete|Karl-Hans Riehm|FRG}}

|80.32

|Heidenheim, West Germany

|August 6, 1978

Pan American Games record

|{{flagathlete|Lawrence Hart|USA}}

|66.56

|Mexico City, Mexico

|1975

Results

All distances shown are in meters.{{cite book|title=Memoria VIII Juegos Deportivos Panamericanos San Juan, Puerto Rico 1979|date=1981|language=es|publisher=1979 Pan American Games Organising Committee (COPAN 79)|page=255|url=https://www.panamsports.org/downloads/pdf/panamgames/1979-san-juan-tomo-1-lq.pdf|format=PDF|access-date=2019-08-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811030601/https://www.panamsports.org/downloads/pdf/panamgames/1979-san-juan-tomo-1-lq.pdf|archive-date=2019-08-11|url-status=dead}}

class="wikitable" style="margin:0.5em auto; font-size:90%;position:relative;" width=68%

KEY:

|align=center|WR

World Record

|align=center|GR

Pan American Record

=Final=

class="wikitable sortable"
Rank !Name !Nationality !Distance !Notes
{{gold01}} \|Scott Neilson \|{{flagPASO\|CAN\|1979}} \|69.64 \|GR
{{silver02}} \|Armando Orozco \|{{flagPASO\|CUB\|1979}} \|68.48 \|
{{bronze03}} \|Genovevo Morejón \|{{flagPASO\|CUB\|1979}} \|67.66 \|
4 \|Andy Bessette \|{{flagPASO\|USA\|1979}} \|66.22 \|
5 \|José Alberto Vallejo \|{{flagPASO\|ARG\|1979}} \|59.50 \|
6 \|Daniel Gómez \|{{flagPASO\|ARG\|1979}} \|58.58 \|
7 \|Luis Martínez \|{{flagPASO\|PUR\|1979}} \|54.20 \|
8 \|Mario Egnem \|{{flagPASO\|CHI\|1979}} \|51.52 \|
{{hs\|9}} \|Boris Djerassi \|{{flagPASO\|USA\|1979}} \|{{sort\|00.00\|DNS}} \|
{{hs\|9}} \|Bill Green \|{{flagPASO\|USA\|1979}} \|{{sort\|00.00\|DNS}} \|

class="wikitable sortable"

Rank

!Name

!Nationality

!Distance

!Notes

|Scott Neilson

|{{flagPASO|CAN|1979}}

|69.64

|GR

|Armando Orozco

|{{flagPASO|CUB|1979}}