Masters News and Muse

Earlier this morning, Roald (pronounced the Norwegian way: ROE-all, without the D) learned that the field would be posted online at 10 a.m. And so it was. He was listed (with his first name Arne) as No. 25, ahead of only Adam Burke of Killeen, Texas.

Before 10 a.m., the field had 21 athletes listed as "qualified/declared" and 11 in the provisional category. Roald actually had declared within minutes on the day such declarations began, but his status was in limbo until less than a half-hour ago.

Roald, an artist by trade who has been dubbed "the Olympic Picasso," is a two-time Olympian for Great Britain (1984, 1988) who became an American citizen in 1995 and threw in three U.S. Olympic Trials (fifth in 1996, 253-5; nonqualifying 223-5 in 2000; and 10th in 2004 with a 226-8 throw). His DOB is April 24, 1962.

His IAAF biography lists his all-time best as 83.84 (275-1) at Tucson in 1987.

In an email exchange from his home near Atlanta, Roald described his hopes and plans.

Roald wrote: "I have to say that if I make the Trials, I will think of it as one of my greatest athletic accomplishments."

Then the waiting game commenced. And he even had contingency plans, including paying $250 and filing an appeal to get into the javelin field.

"This is going to be very, very close," Roald said a few weeks ago. "I believe I will end up being the last one in or the first one out. It is the first time I can think of that I am praying to be last!"

Despite the uncertainty about competing, Roald planned to attend the meet anyway, writing: "On July 2nd I will be having a javelin clinic at a local high school in Eugene: 'The Art of Javelin Throwing.' It will be free and open to athletes, coaches and the general public."

And as I wrote in my Masters Athlete Daily blog: And should he make history as the oldest spearchucker in the Trials, what will he do then?

"I will be doing something extra-special for my seventh and final Olympic Trials performance: I will be debuting 'Optical' Javelins at the Olympic Trials along with matching hand-painted outfits that will match colors of the javelins. There will be three different javelins with three different matching outfits -- black and white; red, white and blue; and Olympic colors."

Although Roald's listed M45 world age-group record is 71.75 (235-4) from a year ago, USATF accepted a mark of 72.02 (236-3) from June 2007 in Atlanta.

One mystery remains, however. The last thrower in the field, Burke, is listed as having NM (no mark). That's odd, considering that the "B" qualifying standard is hard and fast: 70 meters (229-8). Army Capt. Burke is a West Point graduate who apparently was overseas in 2007 and thus submitted a mark from 2006, according to a posting on the javelin message board from Dan Gale:

Olympic Trials Field Size
Mon Jun 23, 2008 18:46
24.199.208.30

So I just got off the phone with the Chair of the Men's Field Selection Committee for the Olympic Trials and he stated that the Field size will be 24 athletes plus one athlete who got in on appeal for the Men's Javelin. They currently have updated the website with the top 20 then the top 4 pending athletes will be used.

There had been rumors of more (28-30), but they were false as in his own words the chances of taking more then 25 was "a snowballs chance in hell" In the field of 25 Capt. Burke has been approved to use his mark from 2006 (72.62) because he was overseas in 2007. Good for Adam, bad for those below him as it bumps us down (kind of) but does not take a spot. Best of luck Adam too bad I just threw away your Javelin boots you gave me because they gave me terrible blisters...you ass.

So be it as it may...all those athletes like myself still below the top 25 with the "pending" status the chances of you throwing are about as good as me rocking pink hair in the next volume of the ABC's of Javelin.

Best of luck to everyone throwing... See you in '09