| Connolly's left arm was slightly withered at birth and he broke it several times playing football and wrestling, so he took up the hammer throw as a student at Boston College to strengthen it. His throw of 201 feet, 5 inches in June of 1955 made him the first American to surpass 200 feet in the event, but Connolly went well beyond that in a short time.
The national AAU champion eight times, from 1955 through 1961 and in 1964 and 1965, Connolly set his first world record with a throw of 224-10 on November 2, 1956, shortly before the Olympics. Then he beat long-time world record holder Mikail Krivonosov to win a gold medal. Wearing ballet shoes to improve his footing, he trailed Krivonosov until his fifth and final throw, when he won with a distance of 207-3.
Connolly increased the record to 225-4 in 1958, 226-1½ in 1959, 230-9 in 1960, 231-10 in 1962, then to 233-2 and 233-9½ in 1965. He placed second in the 1960 Olympic trials, but was injured before the Olympics and finished only eighth. In 1964, he placed sixth at the Olympics.
In 1957, Connolly married Olga Fikotova, who had won a 1956 gold medal in the discus for Czechoslovakia. She represented the U. S. at four Olympics, 1960, 1964, 1968, and 1972, but never won another medal. After their divorce in 1975, Connolly married Patricia Winslow, who had competed in the Olympic pentathlon in 1960, 1964, and 1968.
Connolly competed only sporadically after 1965, but he qualified for the 1968 Olympic team and placed fifth in the 1972 trials. |
USA