Former MHS Track Star Heads to Olympics

Arantxa King, 18, to Compete in Long Jump for Bermuda

King is pictured at left in a Stanford University picture. Courtesy photo.

Story Updated 9:18PM, Friday, August 8, 2008

– Allison Goldsberry

Former Medford High School track and field star Arantxa King– one of the best athletes to ever don a Mustang uniform- will compete in Beijing this summer for Olympic gold.

King, 18, will compete in the long jump for Bermuda, a country in which has dual citizenship. King, who competed in 2007’s Pan-American Games for Bermuda, received the country’s at-large track and field selection and will be one of six athletes to represent Bermuda in the 2008 Summer Olympics.

“We’re just proud of the fact that’s she there and she can say she’s an Olympian,” said Branwen Smith-King, King’s mother.

Despite the fact that King is one of the youngest competitors there, her mother said her very competitive daughter will hold her own amongst the competition.

“She’ll go in with the attitude ‘I’m there to compete just like they are,’ and she’ll put her best foot forward,” said Smith-King.

King was in Poland competing in the World Junior Championships in the long jump two weeks ago when she found out she was Beijing-bound (she finished fifth).  Due to the short notice her family is not able to accompany her but her mother says she is “in good hands” with the coaches and athletes from Bermuda.

Smith-King said they are focusing on keeping her daughter healthy and prepared for the 2012 Olympics, which will take place in London.

“This is almost like a dress rehearsal for 2012,” said Smith-King.

The rising Stanford University sophomore already holds two records for that school- sixth in the long jump for a leap of 20 feet, 3 inches and eighth in school history for the triple jump for a 41-foot, half-inch jump. King also qualified as a freshman during the indoor track season for the NCAA Championship in the long jump and placed tenth.

Former Medford High School track coach Jack Dempsey, who coached the phenom as a freshman during the indoor track season in 2003, remembers King as an athlete with unlimited potential.

“You knew right off the bat she had all the potential in the world,” said Dempsey.

As a freshman that year King was the All-State champion in the 55-meter dash.

That was just the beginning of the King’s accomplishments as a Mustang track star. King, who owns the Massachusetts and New England long jump records, is a four-time state long jump champion. She was ranked first nationally for the long jump and sixth nationally for the triple jump in 2005, and was the 2005 and 2006 outdoor track high school national champion in the long jump and the 2006 outdoor champion in the triple jump. In 2005 she captured the World Youth long jump championship and the Junior Pan American long jump championship. King was also named the New England Gatorade Track & Field Athlete of the Year from 2005-2007 and was the 2005 Bermuda Athlete of the Year.

King also has extensive international competition experience. She was the 2005 IAAF World Youth champion, a Carita (Caribbean) Games medalist in 2004-2006, and a CAC Games medalist in 2004 and 2006. She also placed in the top ten at the 2006 World Juniors IAAF and is a 2005 Pan American Games champion and a 2007 medalist. King finished in the top ten at the 2007 Pan American Senior Games and competed at the 2006 Common Wealth Games.

King is the younger sister of Akilah, another phenomenal athlete and former Mustang that just completed her education at Brown University. She is the daughter of Adrian King and Smith-King, both talented athletes that have played major roles in their daughters’ athletic careers. King is the former girls’ soccer coach at Medford High and Smith-King served as Tufts’ track and cross-country coach for many years before assuming the role of Assistant Athletic Director.

The Olympic Games begin on Friday, August 8, and the long jump competition starts on Saturday, August 16.  King will begin competing on August 19.  She will make three jumps in the qualifying round and the top twelve athletes will move on to the finals.