Friday, 15 January 2016
Are we fighting a losing battle trying to stop athletes taking performance enhancing drugs? Is cheating just so much a part of “our” collective genetic makeup that it can never be eradicated from sport? Is the only option to throw more money at it, and make the offenders criminals and put them in prison, or is there an alternative, albeit extreme option?
What if we went the other direction, and did a 180, and created an entirely new “genre” in the sports world, where it would be not only legal to take PEDs, but you would actually be encouraged to take them?
We have the Olympic and Paralympic Games for abled and disabled athletes. Why not add another section for enabled and enhanced athletes? Creating Super-Olympics would give those individual athletes and state sponsored programs that want to cheat a stage and an outlet. Could this be the solution? Maybe, just maybe, these “cheats”, be it individuals or statewide programs, would then self-purge themselves and move to the new platform, a sand box created especially for them, where they could go and play. Then the decks would be cleared and our current system could be cleaned up. (more…)
One was the first American to hold the world record in the javelin. Another competed in eight Olympic Trials and made three British Olympic teams. A third coached Australian throwers at three Summer Games.
The trio were among five javelin coaches or stars who shared thoughts on Leigh Petranoff’s dream to compete in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.
The new San Marcos resident — a daughter of former world record holder Tom Petranoff — competed in the 2012 Olympic Trials. She is interviewed here.
Comments from a javelin panel assembled by Times of San Diego:
In 1953, Held became the first American to set a world record in the javelin — and the first to break the 80-meter mark with his world record of 263 feet 10 inches. He had a best of 270 feet and was inducted into the national Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1987.
Held: I feel a little presumptuous about making suggestions to Leigh about her javelin throwing, considering her father’s abilities. Also, I only saw her make one throw on one occasion, and I did not pay a lot of attention to her form. (more…)
Device for maximising height of throw … Illustration from What If?
Question: How high can a human throw something? (From Irish Dave on the Isle of Man)
Answer: Humans are good at throwing things. In fact, we’re great at it; no other animal can throw stuff like (more…)
Roald Bradstock competes in a record setting 8th Olympic Trials aged 50 in Birmingham, England on June 23rd, 2012. He smashes the World Masters Record for “the over 50” and comes second. The following day, on June 24th, 2012, Roald has a little chat with John Inverdale live on BBC
Roald Bradstock tops World Masters Rankings for 2012 in both the 45 to 49 year and 50 to 54 year age group catergories:
http://mastersathletics.net/fileadmin/html/Rankings/Rankings_2012/2012JavelinThrow.html
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Javelin ace inspires children about London 2012 through art
  Wednesday 6 July: Schoolchildren in Suffolk have taken part in an art class with a difference as Roald Bradstock, a Great Britain javelin thrower and former world record holder led an Olympic-themed art master class at Kirkley School in Lowestoft.Roald is one of the Youth Sport Trust’s ambassadors for the Sports College Legacy Programme which inspires children to learn across a range of school subjects by using the Olympic and Paralympic Games to engage pupils. (more…) |
Olympic Picasso’ will paint the town red if he reaches Games at 50
Simon Turnbull: On the YouTube section of Roald Bradstock’s website, you can see a clip of him throwing in the Olympic javelin final in Los Angeles in 1984.
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| Getty – Roald Bradstock holds the world record for throwing an iPod (154 yards), an egg (118 yards) and a goldfish (56 yards) |
On the YouTube section of Roald Bradstock’s website, you can see a clip of him throwing in the Olympic javelin final in Los Angeles in 1984. “He’s had injuries,” commentator Stuart Storey says of the javelin thrower-cum-artist who has come to be known as “the Olympic Picasso”. “He has got a weak back.” (more…)
A 48-year-old javelin thrower from Broxbourne, who has set himself the ambitious goal of qualifying for the London 2012 Olympics, is proving that age may not be a barrier to his dream by setting a new world record. (more…)
