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Let’s hear it for the 40-plus set

By Helene Elliott
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EUGENE, Ore. -- Roald Bradstock scored one for those well beyond their teenage years when he competed in the javelin qualifying Friday at age 46.

He didn’t just show up, he made a huge splash: For his first throw, he wore a black-and-white striped bodysuit with his javelin sheathed in matching fabric. For his second throw, he wore a multicolored outfit -- and so did his javelin.

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And for his third throw, he celebrated the Fourth of July by wearing a horizontally striped outfit of red, white and blue, with the javelin dressed to match.

Bradstock, a masters champion in the 45-to-49 age group, is also an accomplished artist. He represented Great Britain in 1984 and 1988 and became a U.S. citizen in 1995.

These are his fourth U.S. trials: He was fifth in 1996, didn’t get out of qualifying in 2000 and was 10th in 2004.

--Helene Elliott

Olympics Blog
Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

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