Roger Kingdom OLY (born August 26, 1962) is an American former sprint hurdler who was twice Olympic champion in the 110 meters. Kingdom set a world record of 12.92 in 1989. He is now an athletics coach and strength and conditioning coach who currently works as a speed and conditioning coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFL.

Roger Kingdom
Kingdom (center)
Personal information
Full nameRoger Nona Kingdom
Born (1962-08-26) August 26, 1962 (age 62)
Vienna, Georgia, United States
Alma materUniversity of Pittsburgh
Height185 cm (6 ft 1 in)[1]
Weight91 kg (201 lb)
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing the United States United States
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1984 Los Angeles 110 m hurdles
Gold medal – first place 1988 Seoul 110 m hurdles
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 1995 Gothenburg 110 m hurdles
IAAF World Indoor Championships
Gold medal – first place 1989 Budapest 60 m hurdles
Summer Universiade
Gold medal – first place 1989 Duisburg 110 m hurdles
IAAF World Cup
Gold medal – first place 1989 Barcelona 110 m hurdles
Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place 1983 Caracas 110 m hurdles
Gold medal – first place 1995 Mar del Plata 110 m hurdles
Updated on 10 February 2014
Roger Kingdom
Career history
As a coach:
Career highlights and awards
As strength & conditioning coach:

Early life and athletics

edit

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 had a long and distinguished career on the track in the 110 meter high hurdles, winning his first Olympic gold medal in the 1984 Summer Olympics. In 1988, he was unbeaten all season and was the favorite to retain his Olympic title in the 1988 Summer Olympics 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 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 ACL damage and remove bone chips from his knee. He returned to competition to win the gold medal in the 1995 Pan American Games and the bronze medal in the 1995 World Championships in Athletics.

Kingdom retired from active athletic competition in 1999.

In 2006, Kingdom was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. He was inducted along with NFL's Bap Manzini and MLB's Jim Russell.

In 2018, Kingdom was included in the inaugural class of the University of Pittsburgh Pitt Athletics Hall of Fame

Coaching

edit

Kingdom joined the California University of Pennsylvania's athletics staff as an assistant Track & Field and Cross Country coach in 2004. He then became the director of both teams in 2006.

On March 6, 2014, Kingdom was hired as the assistant strength and conditioning coach for the NFL's Arizona Cardinals. Kingdom worked with head strength and conditioning coach Buddy Morris, his own strength coach at the University of Pittsburgh, and focused on improving the team's speed.[2]

Kingdom then spent the 2018 season as the Interim Director of Track & Field/Cross Country at the University of Central Florida

In 2019, Kingdom returned to the NFL as the speed and conditioning coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In Tampa, he again worked under head coach Bruce Arians, who was the Cardinals' head coach during Kingdom's tenure in Arizona.[3]

In 2021, Kingdom won a Super Bowl title in Super Bowl LV.[4]

Personal life

edit

Kingdom is a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity.

He currently resides in Orlando, Florida with his wife, Mary. They have three daughters: Jierra, Cierra and Carina.

Achievements

edit

(110 m hurdles unless stated)


Track records

edit

As of 16 September 2024, Kingdom holds the following track records for 110 metres hurdles.

A performance in red text is wind-assisted.


Location Time Windspeed
m/s
Date Notes
Barcelona 12.87 + 2.6 10/09/1989
Columbus 13.34 + 0.8 07/05/1995
Grosseto 13.10 0.0 10/08/1989
Houston, TX. 13.22 + 0.9 16/06/1989
Jerez de la Frontera 13.20 + 0.5 28/06/1988
Mar del Plata 13.39 + 0.8 21/03/1995
Norwalk 13.22 + 1.5 15/06/1990
Portsmouth 13.11 + 3.8 22/06/1990
Princeton 13.38 NOT KNOWN 11/06/1998
Rovereto 13.26 – 0.3 21/08/1990
San Diego, CA. 13.17 – 2.7 25/06/1988
Seoul 12.98 + 1.5 26/09/1988 This was the Olympic record for eight years.
Shizuoka 13.28 0.0 15/09/1990
Tampa, FL. 13.15
13.15
+ 3.1
+ 1.3
16/06/1988
17/06/1988
Verona 13.24 + 0.6 12/09/1989
Villanova 13.25 + 1.4 09/06/1985
Zurich 12.92 – 0.1 16/08/1989 This was the world record for four years.

Awards

edit
World Athlete of the Year (Men):1989[5]

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "Roger Kingdom". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  2. ^ Weinfuss, Josh (8 April 2014). "Gold medalist Kingdom can teach speed". ESPN NFL. ESPN. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  3. ^ "Roger Kingdom". Buccaneers.com. Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2021.
  4. ^ "Super Bowl LV - Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Kansas City Chiefs - February 7th, 2021". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2023-02-19.
  5. ^ "World Athletes of the Year" (PDF). World Athletics.
edit
Records
Preceded by Men's 110 m hurdles world record holder
August 16, 1989 – August 20, 1993
Succeeded by
Awards
Preceded by Men's Track & Field Athlete of the Year
1989
Succeeded by
Sporting positions
Preceded by Men's 110 m Hurdles Best Year Performance
1985
1988–1989
Succeeded by