Former Medford Track Star Competes in Olympics
Former MHS track star Arantxa King is pictured at right executing a jump in a recent track meet. Photo courtesy Bermuda Olympic Association.
Medford’s Arantxa King Competes in Long Jump, Does Not Advance to Finals
– Allison Goldsberry
Former Medford High School track and field star
Arantxa King– one of the best athletes to ever don a Mustang uniform- hit the track last night in Beijing in the qualifying round of the long jump as an Olympian for Bermuda.
King jumped 6.01 meters (19.71 feet), unfortunately not far enough to meet the qualifying standard of 6.75 (22.14 feet) and not one of the top twelve leaps, so she did not advance past the qualifying round to the finals.
Going into the competition, King’s mother, Branwen Smith-King, said her daughter was in an “ideal situation” because she did not have the pressure on her of an expected medal.
“This is a great experience to demonstrate her abilities…this is almost like a dress rehearsal for 2012,” said Smith-King, referring to the 2012 Olympics, which will be in London.
Smith-King said the focus will be on keeping her daughter healthy for the 2012 Olympics and working with her on things such as her landing and technique.
King’s personal best of her long jump career is a leap of 6.42 meters (21-0 3/4 feet).
King, 18, competed in the long jump for Bermuda, a country in which she has dual citizenship. King, a rising Stanford University sophomore who competed in 2007’s Pan-American Games for Bermuda, received the country’s at-large track and field selection and is one of six athletes representing Bermuda in the 2008 Summer Olympics.
The country has only one medal to its name, Clarence Hill’s heavyweight boxing bronze in 1976.
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