George Kitchens (born January 30, 1983) is an American

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 who competes in the

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 ...

. He has a personal record of 8.23 meters (27 ft 0 in) for the event and was a member of the United States 2012 Olympics team. He was the American national champion in 2013 and represented his country at the

2013 World Championships in Athletics The 14th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (Moscow 2013) () was an international athletics competition held in Moscow, Russia, from 10–18 August 2013. Initially, Russia won the most gold medals to top the table for the first time since 200 ...

Career

Kitchens was raised in

Hephzibah, Georgia Hephzibah () is a city in southern Richmond County, Georgia, Richmond County, in the United States, U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is part of the Augusta metropolitan area. The population was 4,011 at the 2010 census. ''Hephzibah'' ...

. While attending

Glenn Hills High School Glenn Hills Comprehensive High School is a public high school located in the south Augusta area of Augusta, Georgia, United States. It opened in 1967. Athletics The school mascot is a Spartan, and the school colors are Columbia blue and silver. ...

Augusta, Georgia Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navig ...

, he won the long jump at the 2001 national high school championships. He went on to study at

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enro ...

and competed for the

Clemson Tigers The Clemson Tigers are the athletic teams that represent Clemson University, located in Clemson, South Carolina. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) ...

track team. In his second year at the institution he earned

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

honours at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, was the NCAA East Regional champion, and competed at the

2003 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The 2003 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships was organised by USA Track & Field and held from June 19 to 22 at the Cobb Track & Angell Field in Palo Alto, California. The four-day competition served as the national championships in track and ...

. He cleared a personal record of 7.89 meters at the Georgia Tech Invitational meet in June 2003. Kitchens earned NCAA Outdoor and Indoor All-America honours in his final year, and also managed to finish runner-up at the NCAA East Regionals after winning the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

outdoor long jump title. Kitchens ranked top ten in the long jump at both the American indoor and outdoor championships in his first year as a professional in 2006. He competed sparingly in the 2007 and 2008 seasons. He re-emerged in 2009 with a fourth-place finish at the

USA Indoor Track and Field Championships The USA Indoor Track and Field Championships is an annual indoor track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. In years which feature a World Indoor Championships in ...

,George Kitchens
Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2012-06-26. followed by a podium finish at the USA Outdoors, taking third with a mark of 8.23 m. Typically this would have gained him a spot for the World Championships squad, but because the mark was wind-aided and he did not possess the "A" qualifying standard, he did not get called up.Gordon, Ed (2012-06-25)
The men’s dash captivates as usual - US Olympic Trials, Day 3
IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-06-26. He began to compete in Europe for the first time that year and set a new best of 7.98 m at a meeting in

Salamanca, Spain Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritag ...

.Kitchens George
IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-06-26. He failed to build on this in 2010 and he finished out of the top ten at the USA Outdoors with his season's best mark of 7.64 m. He started the 2012 season strongly at the Georgia Relays, winning with a wind-assisted jump of 8.27 m and setting a wind-legal personal record of 8.14 m. He placed third at the

Colorful Daegu Meeting The Colorful Daegu Championships Meeting was an annual track and field competition at the Daegu Stadium in Daegu, South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of ...

and the

Adidas Grand Prix The USA Track & Field, USATF New York Grand Prix is an annual athletics meeting held at Icahn Stadium in New York City, United States. First started in 2005 as the Reebok Grand Prix and then Adidas Grand Prix, it was previously one of the IAAF ...

meet in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He earned his first ever national selection at the 2012 United States Olympic Trials, where his personal best clearance of 8.21 m was enough for third place in the long jump. He failed to match this form at 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 ...

, clearing only 6.84 m in the qualifying round to finish 39th overall.George Kitchens
World Athletics. Retrieved 2021-04-06. The following year he won his first and only national title at the

2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The 2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships was held at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa. Organised by USA Track and Field, the four-day competition took place June 20–23 in conjunction with the USA Junior Outdoor Track & Field Champions ...

, recording a wind-assisted mark of 8.23 m. He set his season's best two weeks later in

Chula Vista Chula Vista (; ) is the second-largest city in the San Diego metropolitan area, the seventh largest city in Southern California, the fifteenth largest city in the state of California, and the 78th-largest city in the United States. The popul ...

with a winning jump of 8.17 m. He again failed to take his form into international competition and was eliminated in the qualifying at the

with a jump of 7.75 m. After making a limited number of appearances in 2014 and 2015, he retired from competitive athletics. Following his retirement Kitchens was arrested for aggravated assault and gun threats against his mother and sister in June 2016, after making demands for money. Kitchens had suffered violence as a child including being shot in the chest and arm at the age of 12 in an attack in which his sister was also paralyzed.SWAT and hostage negotiators called to man barricaded in home; man now in police custody
WJBF (2016-06-20). Retrieved 2021-04-06.

International competitions

National titles

USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships is an annual track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. Since the year 1992, in the years which feature a Summer Olym ...

**Long jump:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kitchens, George Living people 1983 births People from Hephzibah, Georgia Track and field athletes from Georgia (U.S. state) American male long jumpers Olympic male long jumpers Olympic track and field athletes for the United States Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners Clemson Tigers men's track and field athletes Sportspeople from Augusta, Georgia