Roald Bradstock
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Arne Roald Bradstock (born April 24, 1962 in Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire) is a English athlete who competed in the men's javelin throw event during his career [1]. He twice represented Great Britain at the Summer Olympics: 1984 and 1988. In 1992 he was an alternate for the GB Olympic Team and in 1996 was an alternate for USA Olympic team. Bradstock competed in the 2000, 2004 and 2008 USAT&F Olympic Trials. Bradstock is affiliated with Borough of Enfield Harriers.
In 1985 he became the first British Javelin thrower to break the 90 meter barrier with the "Old Rule" javelin with a Commonwealth Record of 91.40m / 299ft 10". The following year, in 1986, he became the first man in the world to surpass the 80m barrier with the "New Rule" javelin with a World Record Throw of 81.74m. In 1987 he improved on his mark with a throw of 83.84m / 275ft 1".
In addition to being an Olympic athlete, Bradstock is also an Olympic artist dubbed "The Olympic Picasso".
In 2000 he won the United States Olympic Committee ( [USOC] ) Sport Art Competition. His winning artwork was then exhibited at the International Olympic Museum in Lausanne as part of the cultural activities leading up to the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.
In 2003 Bradstock won the prestigious International Sports Artist of the Year Award for his unique style of artwork called Athletic Abstraction and his visionary ideas of how to combine sport and art to promote and unify the Olympics and Paralympics. The award was given by the United States Sports Academy ( USSA )and American Sport Art Museum and Archives ( [ASAMA] )who are a world leading authority on sports art and sports artists and are believed to have the largest collection of sports artwork in the world.
In early 2006 he became a founding member of an Olympic revival movement called Art of the Olympians ( [AOTO] ). Other members of the small elite group of Olympian Artists included Olympic Icons Al Oerter, Bob Beamon and Florence Griffith-Joyner.
In late 2006, after the BBC heard of an ambitious proposal Bradstock had for the 2012 London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games ( [LOCOG] ) which would combine Sport and Art in a revolutionary way and scale, he became nicknamed "The Olympic Picasso".
[edit] References
 |
This biographical article relating to British athletics is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
