Each day of Trials competition, renowned American athletes are honored in conjunction with the events of the day. Here is Saturday’s honoree:
Though Roger Kingdom was originally born in Vienna, Ga., it was the United States that reaped the benefits of his talents in the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games. Kingdom won gold medals in the 110-meter hurdles both times, with the highlight coming in the 1988 Seoul games when he set what was then an Olympic record of 12.98 seconds. He would go on to break Renaldo Nehemiah’s world record in the event just a year later with a time of 12.92 — which lasted as the U.S. record all the way until 2006. In all, Kingdom held the world No. 1 ranking in the hurdles a total of five times.
Kingdom attended the University of Pittsburgh, where he won an NCAA Championship in the 110-meter hurdles in 1983 and an indoor 55-meter hurdle championship in 1984. He is currently the head track and field coach at California University of Pennsylvania, a Division II school in California, Penn.