Only two athletes have won the Olympic 110m High Hurdles title in Olympic history and, they were Lee Calhoun (USA) in 1956 & 1960 and Roger Kingdom in 1984 & 1988. However, an interesting comment was made to me by Willie Davnnport, after he won the 1968 Olympic title in Mexico City “When I got really interested in the event and then I studied hurdling, it was Lee Calhoun who had beautiful form, the speed and a fantastic lean at the finish; Hayes Jones who won in 1964 Games in Tokyo. He had that blistering start that one had to learn to live with!”
The man who tested Roger Kingdom more than anyone was Colin Jackson (UK) and Colin said to me at Crystal Palace, after he had done a UK All Comers record of 13.09, on the 20th of July 1990 “Roger Kindom’s major quality is that he is a good competitor and one of the toughest I have had to race against. He uses his height, weight and speed to his best advantage”
Roger Kingdom pointed out “Coming into 1984 I really did not consider myself as a potential Olympian till 8 or 9 months before the Olympic Trials (he finished 3rd in that behind winner Greg Foster). He added “I was working with my coach Albert Kennedy, who also was the Women’s coach at Pittsburg University and at the time I had decided I did not want to play football that season so I could solely train for track and field. Within one year, with no football, I went from 14.00seonds I got down to 13.16. When I hit that time I felt really good about it. I knew in the years to come, knowing I would be running the times I then did”,
The First six in the 1984 Olympic Final were:-1 Roger Kingdom (USA) 13.20; 2 Greg Foster (USA) 13,23; 3 Art Bryggare (Finland) 13:40; 4 Mark McKoy (Canada) 13.45; 5 Tonnie Campbell (USA)13.55: 6. Stephen Caristan (France)13:71.
1988 Seoul -First six . 1 Roger Kingdom (USA) 12.98; 2 Colin Jackson (UK) 13.28; 3 Tonnie Campbell (USA) 13:38; 4 Vladimir Shishkin (Soviet Union) 13:51, 6 Jon Ridgeon (UK) 13.96.
In 1989 Roger Kingdom ran a World Record of 12:92.