ITA El Paso

At a meet in El Paso, Brian Oldfield unleashed a throw of the brass ball to 22.86 meters, exactly 75 feet. Oldfield was competing for the ITA (International Track Association), a professional league established a few years prior, so naturally the International Amateur Athletic Federation did not recognize the put as a world record. The "amateur" world record of 21.82 (71-7) belonged to Al Feuerbach.

Pioneer of the Spin Technique

Just a month earlier, Oldfield had already put 22.11 indoors. In El Paso, everything clicked. His series was impressive: x – 21.94 – x – x – 22.25 – 22.86. In 1974, Oldfield had studied the rotational technique. He became a pioneer of the spin technique alongside Aleksandr Baryshnikov.

The American track and field magazine Track and Field News did not accept "professionals" onto their event-specific merit ranking lists. However, the Illinois native was included in the 1975 Athlete of the Year voting, where he finished second. Some members of the panel placed Oldfield quite low on their lists, causing him to lose the overall points to miler Sir John Walker. Sports Illustrated and Playgirl chose Oldfield, who wore unusual athletic attire and smoked cigarettes between throws, as their cover boy.

Oldfield's only appearance at a major international competition was at the 1972 Munich Olympics, where he finished sixth.

The ITA league went bankrupt in 1976, after which Oldfield supported himself by appearing in events such as the World's Strongest Man competition.

Legal Fights

As the 1970s turned into the 1980s, former ITA athletes began to legally demand the reinstatement of their eligibility for the Olympic Games. The United States Track and Field Federation refused, but allowed Oldfield to compete in the national Olympic trials after a local district court issued a reprimand. Oldfield thanked them by finishing fourth. In any case, he wouldn't have gone to the Olympics due to the boycott.

In 1984, at the age of 39, the former ITA star threw his official personal best of 22.25. This time, the US federation was able to prevent Oldfield from entering the Olympic trials. The ban was not lifted until 1988, when at the age of 43, Oldfield finished ninth in the Olympic trials with a throw under 19 meters.

Oldfield passed away in 2017 at the age of 71. In his later years, he used a cane and a wheelchair for mobility.

Footage

• Video 

Newspaper and Online Stories

• AP, May 12, 1975 

• Sports Illustrated, September 1, 1975 

• Ilta-Sanomat, March 27, 2017 (in Finnish)

• Chaos and Pain, March 27, 2022