Brian Oldfield

    Posted In: Strength & Conditioning

        • Keymaster
          Mike Young on October 22, 2006 at 8:12 pm #12291

          In another thread someone mentioned Oldfield and Fuerbach were capable of SLJs over 3.6m. I'm very skeptical that these two ~250 men could jump 4" further than a multiple time world champion triple jumper (Walter Davis w/ a pr around the same) who is probably the best combined jumper (LJ / TJ) of the current day. While I certainly recognize the incredible strength that these throwers have jumping ability (even SLJ) is largely a strength-to-BW event where these big guys are typically hindered by all the extra muscle mass.
          Salto-
          Oldfield was an incredible athlete who could do unheard of things but 12'6" is about the most amazing feet I've heard from him. Where did you hear about the mark?

          ELITETRACK Founder

        • Participant
          QUIKAZHELL on October 22, 2006 at 10:44 pm #58158

          Oldfield's a freak. I saw a video online of him slam dunking a 16 pound shotput. Anyone see this?

        • Participant
          utfootball4 on October 22, 2006 at 10:47 pm #58159

          Oldfield's a freak. I saw a video online of him slam dunking a 16 pound shotput. Anyone see this?

          damn that crazy and funny shizzle.  https://www.brianoldfield.com/videos.htm

        • Participant
          coachformerlyknownas on October 22, 2006 at 11:44 pm #58160

          Yup,

          Crazy and Funny Schizzle. 

          That is until you see the shell of a man he is today.

          Posture of a 75 year old grandmother, walks with a cane.

          Sad Shizzle would be more accurate…

        • Participant
          utfootball4 on October 23, 2006 at 12:15 am #58161

          Yup,

          Crazy and Funny Schizzle. 

          That is until you see the shell of a man he is today.

          Posture of a 75 year old grandmother, walks with a cane.

          Sad Shizzle would be more accurate…

          why is that sad u gonna be old one day

        • Participant
          flow on October 23, 2006 at 2:11 am #58162

          what happend,  is he sick?  or did the years of training followed by no exercise get to him?

          Yup,

          Crazy and Funny Schizzle. 

          That is until you see the shell of a man he is today.

          Posture of a 75 year old grandmother, walks with a cane.

          Sad Shizzle would be more accurate…

        • Participant
          mortac8 on October 23, 2006 at 3:32 am #58163

          I'd rather live decades as a hero and end up old and decrepit than live a long, mundane, but healthy life till I'm 110.

        • Participant
          flow on October 23, 2006 at 3:54 am #58164

          cobains quote comes to my mind : P

          I'd rather live decades as a hero and end up old and decrepit than live a long, mundane, but healthy life till I'm 110.

        • Participant
          utfootball4 on October 23, 2006 at 7:25 am #58165

          Do the math dummy.
          He didnt live "decades" as a hero.  He is rotting from the insdie out from the steroids.

          Do the math.
          If he was in his prime in say 1980 that would make him less than

          thats what long term use of steroids do to ya.

        • Keymaster
          Mike Young on October 23, 2006 at 7:34 am #58166

          In addition to the previously mentioned problems, I've heard a host of health issues Oldfield suffers from….all of which sound like they may be at least in part be caused by his steroid use.

          On a side note, I've seen Horace Grant (of the great Chicago Bulls teams of the 90s) dunk a 16 lb medball. He was about 2" taller than Oldfield but the medball would require at least 6" more clearance.

          ELITETRACK Founder

        • Participant
          coachformerlyknownas on October 23, 2006 at 7:37 am #58167

          Do the math dummy.
          He didn't live "decades" as a hero.  He is rotting from the insdie out from the steroids.

          More math.
          He was about 56 when I saw him last.  Looked like he was 75.
          He was about to speak to a group of HS kids at an indoor meet.  The kids were like, "who's this old guy?"
          I suggested to the guy running the clinic that he put a cone out 75 feet from the shot circle.

          When they introduced him they pointed to the cone (15 feet beyond the barrier set up to stop rolling shots)  That got the kids attention.

          Too bad they didn't cover what helped him throw that far and its more current effect on display.

        • Participant
          utfootball4 on October 23, 2006 at 7:44 am #58168

          In addition to the previously mentioned problems, I've heard a host of health issues Oldfield suffers from….all of which sound like they may be at least in part be caused by his steroid use.

          On a side note, I've seen Horace Grant (of the great Chicago Bulls teams of the 90s) dunk a 16 lb medball. He was about 2" taller than Oldfield but the medball would require at least 6" more clearance.

          yeh the more i looked at the video its not as amazing to me bc he didnt get up that high, still kinda impressive. shit horce grant was 6'10-6'11 he could jump 15in and dunk the 16lb ball- lol.

        • Participant
          saltojump5 on October 23, 2006 at 9:58 am #58169

          Salto-
          Oldfield was an incredible athlete who could do unheard of things but 12'6" is about the most amazing feet I've heard from him. Where did you hear about the mark?

          I heard about it from our shot put coach at the National Sports Center. I just looked it up and the mark I found on Oldfield is 3.68 m (12'1").

          Gunthor – "A shot putter has to be a good jumper. I have been a good jumper from
          the beginning and now I can jump 3.60 m in the standing long jump (Gunthor
          stands 2.00 m high and weighs 127 kg). His standing long jump distance is the
          second best ever achieved by a thrower. (Brian Oldfield of the United States
          jumped 3.68 m)          "
          https://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:4UCWjybHajoJ:www.athleticscoaching.ca/UserFiles/File/Sport%2520Science/Theory%2520%26%2520Methodology/Throwing%2520Events/Shot%2520Put/Poprawski%2520SP%2520Training%2520-%2520Remarks%2520of%2520Champions.pdf+Brian+Oldfield,+%22standing+long+jump%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2

          and also:

          "According to an end of February 2003 issue of Sports Illustrated (not sure which week) Brian Oldfield could put the shot 75 feet, high jump 7 feet, run the 100m in 9.5 and I found a reference to a 3.68m STANDING long jump. So far as I know, Oldfield remains the only 75 foot shotputter/7 foot high jumper on the planet. ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE."

          Posted by: David E. Ortman | July 27, 2006 8:12 PM
          https://masterstrack.com/blog/000921.html

          I don't think marks like this are all that improbable for shot putters the size of grizzly bears. Aren't world class Olympic weightlifters known to be able to beat world class sprinters across 20-30m? SLJ is one single explosive effort and these guys (shot putters) train for explosion from a crouch. Plus he was pretty tall…

          "At 6' 5" and 280 lbs., Brian could power clean and jerk just under 400 lbs., push-press 315 lbs. 5 times and run a 4.6-sec., 40 yard dash!" By Jeff Everson https://www.xtremebodyshop.com/articles/articles04/powerlifting/samsons.html

        • Participant
          utfootball4 on October 23, 2006 at 10:03 am #58170

          the push press isnt that impressive, i once did behind spilt jerk for 315×2.

        • Participant
          saltojump5 on October 23, 2006 at 10:03 am #58171

          That 9.5 100m means to say 100 yards I'm sure  :laugh:

        • Participant
          saltojump5 on October 23, 2006 at 10:07 am #58172

          the push press isnt that impressive, i once did behind spilt jerk for 315×2.

          Yeah, but the way he did it was impressive. He would do it w/ lots of speed, outward and upward (like incline bench, only standing), ripping it back to the body.

        • Participant
          utfootball4 on October 23, 2006 at 10:09 am #58173

          Yeah, but the way he did it [i]was[/i] impressive. He would do it w/ lots of speed and outward and upward, ripping it back to the body.

          Yeah, but the way he did it [i]was[/i] impressive. He would do it w/ lots of speed and outward and upward, ripping it back to the body.

          make sense bc he was probably doing front push press, but i found behind easier for me

        • Participant
          saltojump5 on October 23, 2006 at 10:10 am #58174

          Do you believe the 7 foot high jump reference though?

        • Participant
          utfootball4 on October 23, 2006 at 10:14 am #58175

          Do you believe the 7 foot high jump reference though?

          its possible.

        • Keymaster
          Mike Young on October 23, 2006 at 10:15 am #58176

          9.5 for 100 yards is not legit at all. In fact it's laughable. On his own website he says he ran 10.3 for 100 meters. That looks to be a hand time so it's a 10.54 second 100m if you trust the original mark. Certainly impressive for a guy that big but no where near 9.5 for 100m as indicated in the blog above. That alone makes the other marks less credible. Also on his website he says he high jumped 6'6"….not 7'. I work with several Olympians from that era and I've heard the 6'6" mark verified on several occassions. There is no way that he jumped 7'. These marks are starting to get ridiculous….kinda like the Wilt Chamberlin claims from a couple years back of 55" vertical jump, 46s quartermile, 60' shot put, yada yada.

          ELITETRACK Founder

        • Keymaster
          Mike Young on October 23, 2006 at 10:16 am #58177

          its possible.

          Possible but didn't happen. Oldfield says so himself.

          ELITETRACK Founder

        • Participant
          utfootball4 on October 23, 2006 at 10:22 am #58178

          [quote author="utfootball4" date="1161578690"]
          its possible.

          Possible but didn't happen. Oldfield says so himself.
          [/quote]

          shit why he didnt play fb – de, lb, te or fb with that 4.3 40 and all that explosive power.

        • Keymaster
          Mike Young on October 23, 2006 at 10:22 am #58179

          On his health condition from the Chicago Tribune article above:

          Even then his body was breaking down. He had been born with a fragile back and bowed legs, and the heavy demands of training and competition led to injuries.

          "He kept playing and playing, and it got worse," said his sister, Joan Junod of St. Charles. "He wanted his fame so bad that even though it hurt him, he wasn't going to stop."

          Oldfield also acknowledged taking steroids, starting in college with Dianabol pills from a physician. But he said he used the drugs sparingly and doubted they had harmed his health. His doctors, he said, never have raised steroids as an issue.

          Starting in the early 1990s, Oldfield's disabilities piled up at a frightening clip. His right leg became severely infected after surgery, putting him on antibiotics for 17 months. A fusing spine ate away the strength in his upper body, while neuropathy, a nerve disorder, weakened his legs.

          ELITETRACK Founder

        • Keymaster
          Mike Young on October 23, 2006 at 10:23 am #58180

          [quote author="mike" date="1161578839"]
          [quote author="utfootball4" date="1161578690"]
          its possible.

          Possible but didn't happen. Oldfield says so himself.
          [/quote]

          shizzle why he didnt play fb – de, lb, te or fb with that 4.3 40 and all that explosive power.
          [/quote]I read somewhere he hated football. Didn't even like it when people mistook him for a pro football player (which apparently happened frequently due to his size).

          ELITETRACK Founder

        • Participant
          saltojump5 on October 23, 2006 at 10:24 am #58181

          9.5 for 100 yards is not legit at all. In fact it's laughable. On his own website he says he ran 10.3 for 100 meters. That looks to be a hand time so it's a 10.54 second 100m if you trust the original mark. Certainly impressive for a guy that big but no where near 9.5 for 100m as indicated in the blog above. That alone makes the other marks less credible. Also on his website he says he high jumped 6'6"….not 7'. I work with several Olympians from that era and I've heard the 6'6" mark verified on several occassions. There is no way that he jumped 7'. These marks are starting to get ridiculous….kinda like the Wilt Chamberlin claims from a couple years back of 55" vertical jump, 46s quartermile, 60' shot put, yada yada.

          Ahh, come on Mike! You're taking all the fun out of it! We like legends!  :bouncy:

        • Keymaster
          Mike Young on November 11, 2006 at 11:14 am #58182

          Spoke with Brian tonight without knowing it. Didn't find out who he was until after the fact. Kinda strange how things turn out…

          ELITETRACK Founder

        • Participant
          mn-highjumper on November 11, 2006 at 12:14 pm #58183

          anything worth sharing come out of the conversation???

        • Keymaster
          Mike Young on November 12, 2006 at 1:20 am #58184

          He's one of the more charismatic guys you'll ever meet and slightly obnoxious (I don't think he'd be insulted). He said he ran a 4.3 hand timed 40 yard and was second at one of his collegiate conference meet all by himself…something about the rest of his team not showing up. He is definitely battered and a shell of his former self, he even seems to make fun of himself a little and the things that may have lead to his condition. This is actually why I didn't recognize him initially.

          Interestingly he said he was no where near being one of the strongest throwers of his era. I had actually heard the same thing from Knut Hjeltnes (4x Discus Olympian for Norway) a couple weeks ago.

          I heard some hilarious stories about Brian from some other elite throwers from that time, none of which I can or should mention here.

          ELITETRACK Founder

        • Participant
          cerebro on November 14, 2006 at 11:34 am #58185

          Throw coach from my school had dinner with Brian Oldfield over the weekend… said he is one of the most offensive and obnoxious people she has ever met and loves to be the center of attention…. lol seems like my type of guy. Also likes his booze and disability checks…

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