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Kerry ("Kenny") Harrison (born February 13, 1965 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States) is a former track and field athlete competing in triple jump. The 1991 world champion, his chances of competing in the 1992 Olympics were ruined by injury, but returned to win the gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics with a personal best, national record, and Olympic record of 18.09 meters (59 feet, 4.25 inches), which still stands to this day. This jump is notable for the fact that it is the longest jump ever with a negative wind reading (the athlete with the next best is Jonathan Edwards with 17.79 meters). Harrison was also a 2-time Goodwill Games gold medalist.
[edit] Pre-Professional Career
[edit] High School
Harrison went to Brookfield Central for high school and still holds the record for long high and triple jump. His triple jump of 52 feet 4.5 inches at the 1983 Golden West Invitational ranked him as #2 triple jump prep in the nation [1], and currently stands as the Wisconsin high school #1 all-time triple jump by over 2 feet [2]. That mark also ranks on the top 10 list for the Golden West Invitational [3]. He also had a personal best in the long jump of 23 feet 4 inches, which ranks among the top 35 in Wisconsin high school track & field history [4], and a high jump of 6 foot 7 inches. He held the Wisconsin state meet triple jump record, at 48' 6.25", for 22 years, from 1983 to 2005 [1].
[edit] Collegiate
Harrison attended college at Kansas State University, where he captured three individual titles at the NCAA Championships, the most in school history. He was a 7-time Big 12 Conference individual champion in both indoor [5] and outdoor [6] long and triple jump. He holds school records in indoor long jump (26' 9.75") [7] and outdoor long and triple jump (26' 11.5" and 56'0", respectively) [8].
[edit] Achievements
[edit] External links
[edit] References
United States
