Robert Howard (November 26, 1975 in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

– August 14, 2004 in

Little Rock, Arkansas (The Little Rock, The "Little Rock") , government_type = council-manager government, Council-manager , leader_title = List of mayors of Little Rock, Arkansas, Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_ ...

) was an American world-class

triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * ...

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 ...

er and a nine-time

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

collegiate champion.

High school

Howard graduated from Shea High School in

Pawtucket, Rhode Island Pawtucket is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 75,604 at the 2020 census, making the city the fourth-largest in the state. Pawtucket borders Providence and East Providence to the south, Central Falls ...

in 1994. His top triple jump while competing in the high school ranks was 51-5.75 (15.69m). He received the Tom Doherty Memorial Award as the state's male athlete of the year.

Collegiate career

In choosing a college, Howard elected to follow in the lengthy horizontal jumping tradition at the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

, where he would follow in the footsteps of such luminary jumpers as

Mike Conley, Sr. Michael Alex Conley Sr. (born October 5, 1962) is an American former track and field athlete who competed primarily in the triple jump and the long jump. In the triple jump, he won an Olympic gold medal in 1992, silver in 1984, and gold in th ...

Edrick Floreal Eadric, alternatively spelled Edric or Edrick, is a name of Anglo-Saxon or Jute origin and may refer to: * Eadric of Kent (died c. 686), king of Kent from 685 to 686 * Eadric Streona (died 1017), ealdorman of Mercia under Æthelred II and Cnut * Ea ...

Jérôme Romain Jérôme Romain (born June 12, 1971 in Saint-Martin, France) is a former world-class track and field athlete who competed mainly in the triple jump. Born on Saint-Martin, a French overseas territory in the Caribbean, Romain represente ...

Brian Wellman Brian Wellman (born September 8, 1967) is a former triple jumper from Bermuda, who became indoor world champion in 1995, setting a new championship record (CR) of 17.72. His personal best outdoors was 17.62 metres. Both these marks are Bermudian r ...

and

Erick Walder Erick Walder (born November 5, 1971 in Mobile, Alabama) is an American former long jumper. He was a silver medalist at the 1997 World Championships in Athletics and twice bronze medallist at the IAAF World Indoor Championships (1995, 1999). He al ...

. Putting his own stamp on the track program, Howard won nine individual collegiate championships while jumping for Arkansas: During this time, the Razorback team, under the guidance of legendary coach

John McDonnell John Martin McDonnell (born 8 September 1951) is a British politician who served as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2015 to 2020. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Hayes and Harlington since 1997. ...

, itself won seven of the eight available NCAA team titles, indoors and out. Howard competed at the 1997 World University Games, finishing third in the triple jump. In 1997, he was named Collegiate Athlete of the Year by ''

Track and Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on runni ...

'' magazine for winning all four jumps in the two NCAA championship competitions. All of Howard's personal records were set while he was a collegian: Howard graduated from the university in 1998 with a bachelor's degree in pre-medicine/

microbiology Microbiology () is the scientific study of microorganisms, those being unicellular (single cell), multicellular (cell colony), or acellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology, bacteriology, prot ...

Professional career

In 1999, Howard missed the majority of the season with an injury. Howard qualified for the US Olympic team in the triple jump twice, making the finals in both

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

and

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. He finished seventh in 1996 and eighth in 2000. He won the triple jump competition at the 2000 Olympic Trials with a leap of 55-9 (16.99). His best finish in USATF competitions was a second in the triple jump in 2001. Admitted to

medical school A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...

in 1999, Howard worked in his jumping around his schooling, studying at the

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) is a public health sciences university in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is part of the University of Arkansas System and consists of six colleges, seven institutes, several research centers, a s ...

to be a

neurosurgeon Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty concerned with the surgical treatment of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord and peri ...

. He had deferred his medical studies for one year to train for the 2000 Olympics and again for the 2004 Olympics. He finished fifth in the 2004 Olympic Trials, falling short in his attempt to make the Olympic team for the third time.

Rankings

During his career, Howard was ranked among the top jumpers in the US by ''Track and Field News''.

Death

On August 14, 2004, shortly after his failure to make the Olympic team and in the opening hours of the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

in Athens, Howard violently murdered his wife, Robin Mitchell, the chief neurosurgery resident at UAMS, and later leapt to his death from the 10th story of a medical school dormitory. Police found Mitchell dead in the couple's bed with dozens of stab wounds to the head and torso.ESPN Story on death http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=1860120

References

External links

Robert Howard
at

USATF USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and ...

* * *
2004 Olympic Trial results

Razorback Track & Field Media Guide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Robert 1975 births 2004 suicides American male long jumpers American murderers American male triple jumpers Arkansas Razorbacks men's track and field athletes Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic track and field athletes of the United States Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Sportspeople from Brooklyn Sportspeople from Little Rock, Arkansas Sportspeople from Pawtucket, Rhode Island Suicides by jumping in the United States Suicides in Arkansas Murder–suicides in the United States Track and field athletes from New York City Track and field athletes from Rhode Island Universiade bronze medalists for the United States Medalists at the 1997 Summer Universiade Uxoricides