2010 Inductee Olympic champion shooter Bob Braithwaite came to the University’s Royal (Dick) Veterinary College when aged just 16. A keen sportsman, he captained the cricket team, winning a blue, and also won a half-blue in football. Bob started clay shooting in 1956 and went on to concentrate on the Olympic trench discipline. Over a long and distinguished career, he won many national and international events, including – on five occasions – the prestigious British Open Grand Prix Olympic Trench championship. He was selected to shoot at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 and finished 7th. Qualifying again for the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico, his busy schedule as a vet gave him little time to travel for training. Instead he installed a trap on his family’s old farm and practised there. At the Games, he missed two of the targets in the first stage of the event then went on to break every one of the subsequent 175 targets, ending with an Olympic record-equalling 198 out of 200. This remarkable achievement won him the gold medal and the accolade of Olympic champion. A true, gifted amateur competing in an era of increasing professionalism, Bob’s achievements were recognised with an MBE in 1968 for services to sport. This article was published on 2024-05-13
