Roger Kingdom

Roger Kingdom
Personal information
Full name Roger Nona Kingdom
Born (1962-08-26) August 26, 1962
Vienna, Georgia, USA
Residence Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Alma mater University of Pittsburgh
Height 185 cm (6 ft 1 in)[1]
Weight 91 kg (201 lb)
Updated on 10 February 2014.

Roger Kingdom (born August 26, 1962) is a former sprint hurdler from the United States.

Biography

Born in Vienna, Georgia, an athlete of note Kingdom excelled at the high jump and discus in his formative years as well as being a noteworthy American football player. He attended the University of Pittsburgh originally on a football scholarship but excelled on the school's track team winning the NCAA outdoor national championship in the 110 meter hurdles in 1983 and the NCAA indoor national championship in the 55 meter hurdles in 1984. He still makes his home in the Pittsburgh suburb of Monroeville, Pennsylvania.

He had a long and distinguished career on the track in the 110 meter high hurdles and won two Olympic gold medals. In 1988 he was unbeaten all season and was the favorite to retain his Olympic title in Seoul, South Korea. In a stunning display of technique, power and speed he won by three meters, becoming the first man to run below the 13 second barrier in an Olympic final, running 12.98s. This record stood until 1996 when Allen Johnson broke it at the Atlanta Games. Kingdom is only the second athlete to have successfully defended his 110 m hurdle Olympic title, after Lee Calhoun, who won the gold medal in both 1956 and 1960.

Kingdom set a 110 m high hurdles World Record of 12.92 seconds in Zürich, Switzerland in 1989. This stood until August 20, 1993 when it was beaten by one 1/100th of a second by Colin Jackson of Great Britain in Stuttgart, Germany, a subsequent record that stood for 13 years.

His progress was hampered some in 1991 when he underwent surgery to repair ligament damage and remove bone chips from his knee.

He is also a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity.

He is the director of track and field and cross country as well as the men and women's head track and field coach for California University of Pennsylvania, a Division II College.

On March 6, 2014, Kingdom was hired as the assistant strength and conditioning coach for the NFL's Arizona Cardinals. Kingdom will assist newly hired strength and conditioning coach Buddy Morris and his focus will be on improving the team's speed.[2]

Achievements

(110 m hurdles unless stated)

See also

References

  1. "Roger Kingdom". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  2. Weinfuss, Josh (8 April 2014). "Gold medalist Kingdom can teach speed". EPSN NFL. ESPN. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
Records
Preceded by
Renaldo Nehemiah
Men's 110 m hurdles world record holder
August 16, 1989 – August 20, 1993
Succeeded by
Colin Jackson
Awards
Preceded by
Sergey Bubka
Men's Track & Field Athlete of the Year
1989
Succeeded by
Michael Johnson
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Greg Foster
Greg Foster
Men's 110 m Hurdles Best Year Performance
1985
1988–1989
Succeeded by
Stéphane Caristan
Colin Jackson
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