The sight of the Hammers playing football at the Boleyn Ground is a frequent one, but the sight of them being thrown around the historic stadium is not.

However, this week a group of Olympic hopefuls were given the opportunity to hurl hammers, discuses and javelins all over West Ham United's famous pitch.

With the playing surface about to be re-laid ahead of the 2011/12 season, head groundsman Dougie Robertson invited the athletes and UK Athletics officials to the ground to conduct a number of tests ahead of the planned move to the Olympic Stadium in the summer of 2014.

The aim was to see how the Boleyn Ground pitch - a Desso Grassmaster field comprising natural grass reinforced with synthetic grass fibres - would react to a 7.25kg hammer, 2kg discus and a point-ended javelin landing on it.

The athletes, from the Newham and Essex Beagles club, included Great Britain Under-23 hammer throw champion Amir Williamson, former English Schools' shot putt champion Matthew Baptiste, javelin hopeful Demi Bromfield as well as coach and former Olympian Paul Head and his son and fellow hammer thrower Tom.

Following a number of tests, Robertson and visiting UK Athletics project manager Rob Borthwick declared them a success, concluding that no lasting damage would be done to the playing surface by any athletics events held at the Hammers' new home.

Robertson said: "The testing was a complete success. The need for the tests was to prove that a Desso stabilized surface would work with athletics as it is does for football.

"A variety of tests were carried out to check if any damage would be caused to the heating pipes and surface marking."

Borthwick told West Ham TV he was equally happy with the test results.

"We were here because we hope to have the same surface the club has got at the Boleyn Ground at the Olympic Stadium," he said. "Some people have questioned whether the two sports can live together and we've been working very closely over the last few months and this is just part of the process.

"The technical assessment was to test whether we could use the pitch in the summer and if it would do any damage, and I think we've conclusively proved that it won't do any damage.

"It's a good pitch for us and a good pitch for the football club.

"The one that we came here with the least confidence about was the hammer because it goes some distance and reaches some height and is a pretty solid object hitting the ground.

"We have had a look with the groundsman and he's very happy about the impact that it causes. He's been able to quickly sort that and it's as right as rain so we're very happy.

"It's a relief. We work around the world in stadia that have normal grass but West Ham have the high-quality Desso grass which is a stable surface for football.

"West Ham are famed for keeping the ball on the ground and we want the club to have a good surface that we can work with too. Everybody was hoping this would be the outcome, so we're delighted."