Roald Bradstock
[2] In 2000, Bradstock competed in the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) Sport Art competition in the painting division, for which he won the gold medal.
His parents, Basil and Mary, were advised by doctors that he should not play any contact sports, for fear that he could become paralyzed if he was hit in the wrong place.
In 1967, he began using plasticine as a medium, to create sculptures of animals, people and landscapes and won a local art show at 6 years old.
He also won the silver medal at the 1981 European Athletics Junior Championships behind Uwe Hohn of East Germany.
In October 2009 the IAAF granted Bradstock a change in "Status" allowing him to compete again for his native country of Great Britain.
In late November, 2015 Bradstock became the Executive Director of the Art of the Olympians (AOTO) and the Al Oerter Foundation (AOF).
[20] In March 2016, the ten year anniversary of AOTO, Bradstock launched a global campaign and search to find new Olympian and Paralympian artists to join the organization.
[22] On May 6, 2017, Bradstock competed for the first time in 5 years and broke the British M55 Masters Javelin Record of 55.10m with 3 throws: 59.61m, 61.99m and 62.88m.
Greek Olympic long-distance runner Alexi Pappas created a series of short films.
Jean Blaise Evequoz - 1976 Olympic Bronze medalist in fencing from Switzerland - Lanny Barnes - 5 time American Winter Olympian in the Biathlon assisted Bradstock in the painting project where he was lead artist and instigator.
[37] Fellow artists Emanuela Pierantozzi and Shane Gould joined Bradstock on the committee along with World Olympians Association President Joël Bouzou, Executive Committee Member Natalie Cook and Olympian artists Pat Burgener (musician) and Takahiro Fujimoto.
On the same day (September 12, 2018) Bradstock also won the (M55) Javelin at the World Masters Championships, in Malaga, Spain.
He won with the last throw of competition with a distance of 61.72 m. Among the 37 javelin throwers he beat were Danis Kula, 1980 Olympic Champion.
The following month in Kolkata, India at the St Lawrence Boys School's Olympic Day celebrations, called "Expression 2019", Bradstock was joined by Diane de Navacelle de Coubertin and set a World Selfie Record of 192 selfies in just 3 minutes with the school's children.
The World Record marked the beginning of a new project Bradstock was working on called "Olympic Selfie".
The other participants included Ciara Michel (Great Britain, Volleyball, London 2012); Slaven Dizdarević (Slovak Republic, Track and Field, Beijing 2008); Kelly Salchow MacArthur (USA, Rowing, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004); Gregory Burns (USA, Swimming, Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000); and Hannah Wilkinson (New Zealand, Football, London 2012 and Rio 2016).
Bradstock is quoted in the IOC press release saying: "All my life I have been an artist and an athlete—two seemingly polar opposite pursuits.
On July 26, 2024, a few hours before the opening ceremony for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, CNN International aired a sit-down, in-person interview with Bradstock to discuss his historic artistic accomplishment of creating a new art genre called “Olympism” or “Olympicism”.
The TV interview followed an article posted on July 25, 2024, featuring Bradstock on the CNN website under the heading - The ‘Olympic Picasso’ finally finds recognition for his athletics-inspired art.
[44] A few weeks later, in mid-August 2024, there were dozens of publications in Asia that had articles about Bradstock and his new “Olympism” art genre.
[46] The article, about an ambitious Olympic Art proposal that Bradstock was pitching to the 2012 London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, referenced renowned BBC sport commentator Paul Dickenson and his nickname for Roald Bradstock.
He created a media frenzy when he stepped onto the javelin runway to take his first throw in the qualifying rounds of the 2008 US Olympic Trials on July 4.
His second was an Olympic-themed kit with all five colors of the Olympic rings painted on it, and his final "number" was a red, white and blue outfit that he said later was to celebrate July 4, America's independence day.
Competing in his seventh Olympic trials and being the oldest person at the age of 46 was of little interest, but what was of interest was his "eccentric" media stunt, his hand painted outfits, his bizarre YouTube videos documenting a long list of world records for throwing strange objects from dead fish to iPhones, to the BBC's nickname for him.
Over the next four years leading up to his historic eighth Olympics trials, this time for the UK, Bradstock received a lot of press coverage on the radio, TV, newspapers and magazines around the world.
[67] At the 2012 British Olympic Trials, in Birmingham, England Bradstock once again pulled a "media stunt" as he wore a variety of hand-painted hats, sleeves, tights, socks and shoes during the competition that he changed between each throw for different looks.
