Roger Kingdom

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

Born in Vienna, Georgia, an athlete of note Roger 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 track team. 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 although his style of sometimes knocking over most of the hurdles during a race gave him his detractors. In 1988 he was unbeaten all season and was red hot favorite to retain his title in Seoul, South Korea. In a stunning display of technique sheer power and great basic speed he triumphed by three meters ahead of Colin Jackson becoming the first man to run below the 'magical' 13 second barrier in an Olympic final 12.98 secs. This record stood until Allen Johnson broke it at the Atlanta Games in 1996. 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.

Roger set a 110m high hurdles World Record of 12.92 seconds in Zürich, Switzerland in 1989 which stood until August 20, 1993 when it was beaten by a mere 1/100th of a second by Colin Jackson of Great Britain in Stuttgart, Germany, a 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, Inc.

He is currently the Director of Track & 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.

Achievements

"(110m hurdles unless stated)"
*1983
**1983 Pan American Games - Caracas, Venezuela
***gold medal 13.44 seconds
*1984
**1984 Summer Olympics - Los Angeles, U.S.
***gold medal 13.20 sec.
*1988
**1988 Summer Olympics - Seoul, South Korea
***gold medal 12.98 sec.
*1989
**1989 IAAF World Cup - Barcelona, Spain
***gold medal 12.97 sec.
**1989 IAAF World Indoor Championships - Budapest, Hungary
***60m hurdles gold medal 7.43 sec.
*1990
**1990 Goodwill Games - Seattle, USA
***gold medal 13.47 sec.
*1995
**1995 World Championships in Athletics - Gothenburg, Sweden
***bronze medal 13.19 sec.

External links

* [http://www.gshf.org Georgia Sports Hall of Fame]

ee also

*Olympic medalists in athletics