Kenneth Flax (born 20 April 1963 in San Francisco) is a retired American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 hammer throw

Hammer throw

The modern or Olympic hammer throw is an athletic throwing event where the object is to throw a heavy metal ball attached to a wire and handle. The name "hammer throw" is derived from older competitions where an actual sledge hammer was thrown...

er, whose personal best throw is 80.02 metres, achieved in May 1988 in Modesto.

Flax is a two-time Olympic hammer thrower, who competed in the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games. He began throwing the hammer for the University of Oregon

University of Oregon

-Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...

 in January 1982, and by June 1982, he won the USA Junior National Championships and competed in the Junior Pan Am Games in Caracas, Venezuela. Flax later went on to win two Pac-Ten championships and the 1986 NCAA Championships, throwing seven personal records in nine throws and broke the NCAA record three times in the process which still stands today as the American Collegiate Record.

After college, Flax went on to compete in three World University Games winning a bronze and in 1991 he won the gold medal, beating the former number one ranked hammer thrower in the world, Heinz Weis

Heinz Weis

Heinz Weis is a male former hammer thrower from Germany. He competed for West Germany until 1990....

. One of the highlights of Flax's throwing career was competing in the 1987 and 1991 World Championships, where he finished 7th in 1991 marking the first time in 21 years that an American has made the finals in the hammer throw in a non-boycotted major world event.

Flax won the gold medal

Gold medal

A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...

 in the hammer throw at the 1989 Maccabiah Games

1989 Maccabiah Games

The 1989 13th Maccabiah Games brought 4,500 athletes to Israel from 45 nations.Jewish athletes from Hungary participated for the first time since World War II, Jewish athletes from Russia had been permitted,by their country,to play for the first time....

 with a 78.86 meter toss.

In 2009, Ken was inducted into the Redwood High School Athletic Hall of Fame... Flax was the best field man in Redwood’s track history, a powerful young teen who hurled the shot 57 feet—second all-time best in the MCAL.

Achievements

Representing the
1986	Goodwill Games 1986 Goodwill Games The 1986 Goodwill Games was the inaugural edition of the international multi-sport event created by Ted Turner, which was held from 5 – 20 July 1986. The main stadium was the Olympic Stadium in Moscow, Soviet Union...	Moscow Moscow Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent... , Soviet Union Soviet Union The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....	10th	73.44 m
1987	World Championships	Rome, Italy	20th	73.36 m
1988	Olympic Games Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul a total number of 42 events in athletics were contested: 24 by men and 18 by women. There were a total number of 1617 participating athletes from 149 countries.-Men's events:...	Seoul, South Korea	18th	72.70 m
1989	Maccabiah Games 1989 Maccabiah Games The 1989 13th Maccabiah Games brought 4,500 athletes to Israel from 45 nations.Jewish athletes from Hungary participated for the first time since World War II, Jewish athletes from Russia had been permitted,by their country,to play for the first time....	Ramat Gan, Israel Israel The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...	1st
	World Student Games 1989 Summer Universiade The 1989 Summer Universiade, also known as the XV Summer Universiade, took place in Duisburg, West Germany.-Athletics:*Andre Cason - 100 yard dash *Kamy Keshmiri - Discus throw 214 feet 7 inches-Medal table:...	Duisburg Duisburg - History :A legend recorded by Johannes Aventinus holds that Duisburg, was built by the eponymous Tuisto, mythical progenitor of Germans, ca. 2395 BC... , West Germany West Germany West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....	3rd	75.86 m
1991	World Championships 1991 World Championships in Athletics - Men's Hammer These are the official results of the Men's Hammer Throw event at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo, Japan. There were a total number of 27 participating athletes, with the final held on Sunday August 25, 1991...	Tokyo Tokyo , ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family... , Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...	7th	75.98 m
	World Student Games 1991 Summer Universiade The 1991 Summer Universiade, also known as the XVI Summer Universiade, took place in Sheffield, England. In the host country it was generally referred to as the World Student Games....	Sheffield Sheffield Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely... , England England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...	1st	76.46 m
1992	Olympic Games Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, 43 events in athletics were contested, 24 events by men and 19 by women. The competition ran from July 31, 1992 to August 9, 1992. Fourteen world record-holders were among the contenders...	Barcelona, Spain	23rd	69.36 m

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