| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Frank Garfield Rutherford (1964-11-23)23 November 1964 (age 61) |
Medal record | |
Frank Garfield Rutherford, Jr.MBE (born November 23, 1964) is a retiredtriple jumper from theBahamas. He competed in threeOlympic Games, and won a bronze medal in1992, becoming the first Bahamian Track and Field Olympic medalist.[1] He now runs a program which prepares young Bahamian students to play collegebasketball andAmerican football in theUnited States. He was a four-time participant at theWorld Championships in Athletics.
He attended theUniversity of Houston, where he receivedBachelor of Science degrees inEconomics andComputer Science. He became the first Bahamian to win more than threeNCAA triple jump championships.
Rutherford won the Bahamas its first World Championship medal with a bronze in the1987 IAAF World Indoor Championships. He was the US Indoor Track and Field champion in the triple jump in 1991 and still currently holds the triple jump record for the University of Houston. He followed that with winning a silver medal at the 1992 World Cup in Havana, Cuba. His personal best was 17.41 metres, a Bahamian record that has later been beaten byLeevan Sands. Rutherford is considered the Olympic pioneer in the Bahamas because he was the first to win medals at the Olympic and World Championship levels. He is considered the Father of Track and Field in the Bahamas.
He started the Frank Rutherford Foundation, aHouston, Texas-based programme to assist young Bahamian sportspeople in gaining academic qualifications through college much like Rutherford. The Foundation's goal is to help the students attain a college scholarship. Two former students of the program areDevard andDevaughn Darling, cousins of Rutherford who both received football scholarships fromFlorida State University. Others include Jeremy Barr, apower forward who attended theUniversity of Nebraska–Lincoln on a basketball scholarship, and Ian Symmonette, aleft tackle who attends theUniversity of Miami on football scholarship. More than 60 Bahamian young people have been helped by Rutherford and his foundation and all of them have graduated from college.
His wife, Milessa Rutherford, runs the family businesses and, along with his mother, administrates the Frank Rutherford Foundation. In the2003 New Year Honours, Rutherford was appointed aMember of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for service to sport.[2] He is the cousin of fellow Bahamian track athleteDennis Darling (husband toTonique Williams-Darling).[3]
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Representing Bahamas | |||||
| 1987 | World Indoor Championships | Indianapolis, United States | 3rd | Triple jump | |
| Pan American Games | Indianapolis, United States | 3rd | Triple jump | ||
| 1992 | Olympic Games | Barcelona, Spain | 3rd | Triple jump | |
| 1996 | Olympic Games | Atlanta, United States | 11th | Triple jump | 16.38 m |
| 1999 | Central American and Caribbean Championships | Bridgetown, Barbados | 2nd | Triple jump | |
