Kolkata: St. Lawrence High School in association with their alumni organized an international drawing competition “Expression 2017” on Olympic Day, June 22 2017.
And the ambassador of this grand event is none other than Mr. Roald Bradstock, also known as the “Olympic Picasso” who has been an Olympian in his time.
Bradstock is an Olympic athlete and an Olympic artist from England who competed in the men’s javelin throw event during his career. He twice represented his country Great Britain at the Summer Olympics in 1984 and 1988.
In 2000, Bradstock competed in the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) Sport Art competition in the painting division, and won the gold medal. His winning painting, titled “Struggle for Perfection” now hangs at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) museum in Lausanne as part of the 2000 Sydney Olympics cultural events.
He was appointed by the President of International Olympic Committee to be a part of IOC Culture and Heritage Commission.
In an exclusive interview with www.xtratime.in Mr. Roald Bradstock expressed his views.
A sportsman who not only achieved awards in Olympics but a sportsman who achieved more than anything, Bradstock was highly inspired when he watched the 1968 Mexico Olympics that decided that being in the Olympics will be his aim.
“However I was diagnosed with spine disorder and was advised not to play sports and as a result nothing to do for the matter made all the reason to do something more about it. So I started training and got better and better and by the time I was 17 I had my first international in javelin. By 19 I was world ranked two. I was a world record holder and kept on repeating them. It was all about having fun and staying active” said Bradstock.
On being asked about the IOC Culture and Heritage Commission, he replied “I was asked to join the organization in 2006; and at that time there were only 12 members who were Olympic stars and artists and over the next decade, the member count is now 60 and we are progressing with our work in a good way. The way we share and express our ideas, connects people.”
Often called as ‘Olympic Picasso’ Bradstock said “It has nothing to do with my artwork. As I was an artist somehow the name “Picasso” got picked and then later it was issued by the BBC and everyone else picked it up and to me its fine as people remembers it and it doesn’t hurts. It was first picked in 2006 and then with the passage of time more people picked it up and it has become very recognized and I guess I can’t really complain about it.”
The Olympian thinks that this initiative is a good platform to bring world peace and being given the chance to visit India, Mr. Bradstock jumped at it. “Expression 2017 is a great initiative and can start a global movement” he added.
India’s performance has been poor in the Olympics off late and the former Olympian said that “It’s never about having an athlete who is capable; it’s about building an infrastructure and the training resources.”