Brittney Davon Reese (born September 9, 1986) is a retired American

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 ...

er, Olympic gold medalist, and a seven-time world champion. Reese is the indoor American record holder in the long jump with a distance of 7.23 meters.

Personal

Born in Inglewood, California, Reese was a 2004 graduate of Gulfport High School in

Gulfport, Mississippi Gulfport is the second-largest city in Mississippi after the state capital, Jackson. Along with Biloxi, Gulfport is the co-county seat of Harrison County and the larger of the two principal cities of the Gulfport-Biloxi, Mississippi Metropolit ...

, where she became state champion in the long jump and triple jump. She later attended MGCCC and the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi ( byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment ...

. Reese was a member of the women's basketball team at MGCCC and was recently inducted into their sports Hall of Fame. Reese has been assistant track and field coach at

San Diego Mesa College San Diego Mesa College (Mesa College or Mesa) is a public community college in Clairemont Mesa in San Diego, California. It is part of the California Community Colleges and the San Diego Community College District. It is the largest communit ...

since 2013.

Career

She was the

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 ...

Outdoor Champion in long jump in 2007 and 2008. Reese set a personal best in the long jump of in July 2008 in Eugene, Oregon at the U.S. Olympic Trials to qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. At the Olympics, Reese had the best qualifying jump at 6.87 meters. However, Reese placed fifth in the final, with a jump of 6.76 meters. On May 24, 2009, in

Belém Belém (; Portuguese for Bethlehem; initially called Nossa Senhora de Belém do Grão-Pará, in English Our Lady of Bethlehem of Great Pará) often called Belém of Pará, is a Brazilian city, capital and largest city of the state of Pará in t ...

, Reese extended her personal best to 7.06 m (0.7 m/s wind). This brought her to third on the American all-time list, behind

Marion Jones Marion Lois Jones (born October 12, 1975), also known as Marion Jones-Thompson, is an American former world champion track and field athlete and former professional basketball player. She won three gold medals and two bronze medals at the 2000 ...

and

Jackie Joyner-Kersee Jacqueline Joyner-Kersee (born March 3, 1962) is a retired American track and field athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the heptathlon as well as long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals in tho ...

. At the 2009 World Athletics Championships, in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, Reese won the long jump title with a jump of 7.10 meters, beating defending champion Tatyana Lebedeva. Reese is the third youngest champion in the history of the event. At the

2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics was held between 12 and 14 March at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar. The championships was the first of six IAAF World Athletics Series events to take place in 2010. Bidding and organisation ...

, Reese won the gold medal in the long jump with a jump of 6.70 meters. At the

2011 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 ...

, Reese successfully retained the gold medal in the long jump with a jump of 6.82 meters. At the

2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics was the 14th edition of the global-level indoor track and field competition and was held between March 9–11, 2012 at the Ataköy Athletics Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. It was the first of fou ...

, Reese successfully retained the gold medal in the long jump with a jump of 7.23 meters. She became the first woman to win back-to-back World indoor titles in the long jump when she landed a 7.23 m last round effort, the longest mark indoors since 1989, a new American record and third on the all-time indoor lists. At the start of the outdoor season she broke

Carol Lewis Carol LeGrant Lewis (born August 8, 1963) is an American former track and field athlete who specialized in the long jump. She is the 1983 World Championship bronze medalist, and a 4-time US Champion. Her best long jump of 7.04 meters in 1985 is ...

' long-standing meet record at the

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, ...

with a jump of 7.12 m. That year, she also won the Olympic gold medal, with another jump of 7.12 m. Reese won her third consecutive long jump world outdoor title at the 2013 World Championships in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

with a jump of 7.01m, beating Blessing Okagbare narrowly by 2 cm.

Philanthropy

On November 14, 2011, Reese donated 100 turkeys and her time to various homeless and religious organizations in her community of

as her way of "giving back" to the community that has supported her throughout her athletic career. She wanted to make Thanksgiving a little easier, in an area where there are few resources for those in need. On October 26, 2012, in conjunction with the Gulfport School District celebrating "Brittney Reese Day"; Reese created the B. Reese Scholarship which will be awarded annually to 1 male & 1 female student who has been accepted to a 2-year or 4-year college. On May 21, 2013, th
Reese Scholarship
was awarded in Baltimore County Public Schools to a deserving student accepted to college or university who participated in the Allied Sports Program, coordinated by the Office of Athletics Director Michael Sye. The 2014 recipient of the scholarship i
Bailey Weinkam
a Catonsville High School student that was born hearing impaired. Ms. Weinkam will attend Community College of Baltimore County in Fall 2014.

Major competition record

Personal bests

*All information taken from IAAF profile.

References

External links

* * * * * *
NBC Olympics Bio

Ole Miss Sports Profile
*
World Express Athletic Management
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reese, Brittney 1986 births Living people American female long jumpers Olympic female long jumpers Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Gulfport, Mississippi Track and field athletes from Mississippi African-American female track and field athletes Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field World Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College alumni World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States World Athletics Championships winners Sportspeople from Inglewood, California Diamond League winners USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners World Athletics Indoor Championships winners IAAF World Athletics Final winners 21st-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women