John Robert (Bob) Braithwaite MBE (28 September 1925 – 26 February 2015) was a British

trap shooter A trap is a mechanical device used to capture or restrain an animal for purposes such as hunting, pest control, or ecological research. Trap or TRAP may also refer to: Art and entertainment Films and television * ''Trap'' (2015 film), Fil ...

who represented his country at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

and the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

, winning a gold medal at the latter.

Biography

Born at Arnside, Cumbria, and educated at the Friends School Lancaster and the University of Edinburgh, Braithwaite qualified as a Veterinary Surgeon in 1947. Already a notable game shot, in 1956 he began competing in trap shooting events and within a short time he had become one of the country's leading target shooters. In 1964 he gained a place in the British Shooting Team for the Tokyo Olympic Games where he was placed 7th in the Trap Event. Qualifying again for the 1968 Games in Mexico City his busy veterinary practice provided him with little time to travel to the few training grounds available. Instead he installed a powerful oscillating trap on a piece of ground known as Rough Lot, adjacent to the Braithwaites' old family farm. With the help of the local priest, who volunteered to operate the trap, Braithwaite would shoot 50 targets twice a week. At the Mexico Games the trap event consisted of 200 targets in eight stages shot over two days. In the first stage Braithwaite missed two targets. He then proceeded to break every one of the subsequent 175 targets equalling the Olympic record and earning for himself the gold medal. He shot alongside fellow GB and friend, Eric Grantham from East Yorkshire. Though he won many other events during his career, inevitably it is for his Olympic victory that he is best remembered. Braithwaite's achievement represents one of the last occasions in the history of the Olympic Games in which a gifted amateur with steely determination and great skill won over a field consisting predominantly of commercially sponsored and government-funded professionals.

Olympic results

References

1925 births 2015 deaths English Olympic medallists Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Members of the Order of the British Empire Olympic shooters for Great Britain Olympic medalists in shooting Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Shooters at the 1964 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 1968 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics British male sport shooters People from Arnside {{UK-sportshooting-bio-stub