Kenneth Nathaniel Medwood (born December 14, 1987, in

Belize City Belize City is the largest city in Belize and was once the capital of the former British Honduras. According to the 2010 census, Belize City has a population of 57,169 people in 16,162 households. It is at the mouth of the Haulover Creek, wh ...

) is a Belizean

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete, specializing in the

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once a ...

. He competed in the

2011 IAAF World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in th ...

and was his nation's flagbearer in the opening ceremonies of the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Biography

Medwood grew up in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, attending Theodore Roosevelt High School, where he was a three time

Los Angeles City Section The CIF Los Angeles City Section (CIF-LA) is the governing body of high school athletics for public schools in the city of Los Angeles and some surrounding communities. All of these schools were once associated with the Los Angeles Unified Schoo ...

Champion in the

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

. He holds the Frosh/Soph division record. In both 2005 and 2006, he finished in a tie for 4th place at the

CIF California State Meet The CIF California State Meet is the annual championship track and field meet for the California Interscholastic Federation. The meet was started in 1915 for boys and 1974 for girls. Every athlete in every high school in California has a direc ...

. He also played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

. Next he attended

East Los Angeles College East Los Angeles College (ELAC) is a public community college in Monterey Park, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. It is part of the California Community Colleges System and the Los Angeles Community College District. With fourteen communiti ...

where he began to excel in the long hurdles. He was the state community college champion both years, establishing the state record in the 400 hurdles at 51.63. He moved on to compete at

Long Beach State University California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...

where he was runner up in the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

in both the 400 hurdles and

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

in his first season. He won the 2010 Big West title in the 400 meter hurdles in a then personal best 49.66, which also was his second time breaking the school record during his senior season. He ended the year at the NCAA championships, where he finished as the 17th best collegiate hurdler in the nation. He set his personal record in the 400 hurdles at the 2012

Mt. SAC Relays The Mt. SAC Relays are an annual track and field festival held primarily at Hilmer Lodge Stadium on the Mt. San Antonio College campus in Walnut, California. The Relays are held in mid-April each year since the first edition held on April 24-25, 1 ...

, running 49.54.

Personal bests

*200 m: 21.49 s (wind: +1.0 m/s) – Norwalk, California, April 17, 2010 *400 m: 47.83 s – Walnut, California, April 12, 2008 *400 m hurdles: 49.54 s – Walnut, California, April 21, 2012 *Long jump: 7.49 m (wind: -0.8 m/s) – Northridge, California, May 14, 2010

Achievements

References

External links

*
Tilastopaja biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Medwood, Kenneth 1987 births Living people Belizean male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Belize Athletes (track and field) at the 2011 Pan American Games Pan American Games competitors for Belize People from Belize City Track and field athletes from Los Angeles Belizean emigrants to the United States Long Beach State Beach men's track and field athletes Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Belize Belizean male hurdlers Commonwealth Games competitors for Belize Central American Games gold medalists for Belize Central American Games medalists in athletics