Javelin wrap-up: colorful

Sports Columnist

July 4, 2008 7:56 PM PT

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EUGENE, Ore. -- Maybe it was the outfits.

Breaux Greer, the eight-time U.S. javelin champion and 2007 world bronze medalist, and 46-year-old Roald Bradstock, wore some of the most colorful and unusual qualifying outfits, with spikes and pink dye involved. Neither advanced to the event final -- Bradstock finishing 16th in his heat with a throw of 225 feet 5 inches and Greer at 220-6.

Greer blamed an injured shoulder for his woes and said he probably would ignore the Beijing Games. ‘I’ve never watched a track meet,’ he said.

The javelin final is Sunday, the last day of the U.S. track and field trials.

-- 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.