Roger Kingdom was born on August 26, 1962 in Vienna, Georgia. A multi-sport athlete, he attended the University of Pittsburgh, originally on a football scholarship. He excelled on the school’s track team, winning the 1983 NCAA title in the 110-meter hurdles.
Kingdom’s Olympic debut came at Los Angeles 1984, where he upset favorite Greg Foster by 0.03 to set an Olympic record for the gold. Between 1984 and 1988, Kingdom struggled with injuries, with only one win at the 1985 TAC Championships. He returned to form in 1988, in time for the Seoul 1988 Games.
In Seoul, he successfully defended his gold medal, once again setting an Olympic record and the first man under 13 seconds at an Olympic Games. With his second gold, Kingdom became just the second man to win back-to-back Olympic titles in the 110m hurdles, behind fellow hall of famer Lee Calhoun.
Since retiring, Kingdom has worked as head track and field coach at California University in Pennsylvania, an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Arizona Cardinals and, in 2019, joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a speed and conditioning coach. With Tampa Bay’s 2021 Super Bowl win, Kingdom joins “Bullet” Bob Hayes as the only two people to have Olympic gold medals and a Super Bowl ring.
Roger Kingdom was inducted into the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame as a legend in 2022.
