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Bloom, who grew up in Stamford, turns 41 on Monday. The former Olympic shot putter was born Aug. 11, 1973, in Stamford.
Bloom graduated from Wake Forest University in 1996 and earned All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors each year. As a senior, he won both the NCAA shot put (65–0.5; personal record) and discus (211–1) championships. He became the eighth male in NCAA history to win that double.
He won a silver medal in the discus at the 1997 World University Games, and was ranked third in the U.S. in the discus in 1997. In 1998, he won a silver medal in discus (209–10) at the 1998 Goodwill Games, and was third in shot put (66–11.25 PR) at the USA Indoors and third in discus (217–11 PR) at the USA Outdoors.
In 1999, he won a gold medal in the shot and a silver medal in discus at the 1999 World University Games. He was also fourth in shot put at the World Outdoor Championships in 1999 (20.95 m).
He won the shot put at the USA Indoor Championships in 1999 and 2000, with a personal record throw of 70–10.5 in the latter. He was ranked fifth in the world in both shot put and discus in 1999, and third in the US in shot put and second in discus.
He made the US Olympic team in 2000, with a throw of 70–10.75. He placed fourth at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, with a throw of 68–5.75 (20.87 m). He finished 2000 ranked second in the world, and with a season-best mark of 71–7.25.
He was honored by the U.S. Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.
He is assistant coach at the University of California at Davis. He is also the strength and conditioning coach for the UC-Davis athletics program.
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