Roger KINGDOM

Roger Kingdom - U.S.A. - Successful defence of Olympic title in 1988

Photo/Foto: George Herringshaw

Date: 28 September 1988

Click on image to enlarge

    • DATE OF BIRTH
      Sunday, 26 August 1962
    • PLACE OF BIRTH
      Vienna, Georgia, U.S.A.
  • INTERNATIONAL
  • U.S.A.
    • Event(s)
      110m Hurdles
    • Championship Performances
      Olympics: 1984 & 1988 Gold 110m Hurdles.
      Worlds: 1995 bronze 110m Hurdles.
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Roger KINGDOM - U.S.A. - Successful defence of Olympic title in 1988

 It seemed that Roger Kingdom had a brilliant career in front of him when he emerged, at only 21 years of age, to win the 110m hurdles gold medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles in a new personal best time of 13.20sec. This certainly looked the case immediately after Los Angeles, when Roger undertook a successful European tour, reducing his personal best on two more occasions, firstly to 13.17sec in Berlin, and then to 13.16sec at Zurich. He continued this improvement into the early part of 1985, lowering his personal best to 13.14sec at Modesto on 11 May, and winning the national title at Indianapolis on 15 June. However, Kingdom's season was cut short due to an injury to his left hamstring.

 

This injury plagued Roger over the next two years, and threatened to bring a premature end to his career. Although not totally inactive, he was a mere shadow of his 1984 self, with yearly bests of 13.40sec in 1986 and 13.51sec in 1987. Consequently, his amazing rejuvenation as the world's top hurdler in 1988 was even that more incredible, winning all 25 races (17 finals) that he contested. The highlights of Kingdom's domestic season were winning his second national title at Tampa on 17 June, and a victory at the USA Olympic trials at Indianapolis on 23 July.

 

He then embarked on an undefeated tour of Europe where he smashed his previous personal best at the high altitude resort of Sestriere, clocking 12.97sec to move to second on the all-time world list. Kingdom emphatically demonstrated his superiority in 1988 at the Olympic Games in Seoul, where he broke his own Olympic record with a 13.17sec victory in his quarter-final, and then easily retained his Olympic title (see photo above) with another new Olympic record of 12.98sec in the final. (Ron Casey)

 

 

Men's 110 m. hurdles Final

Olympic Games 1988

 
1. Roger Kingdom   USA   12.98 OR
2. Colin Jackson   GBR   13.28
3. Tony Campbell   USA   13.38
4. Vladimir Shishkin   SOV   13.51
5. Jon Ridgeon   GBR   13.52
6. Tony Jarrett   GBR   13.54
7. Mark McKoy   CAN   13.61
8. Arthur Blake   USA   13.96