Tori Polk (born September 21, 1983) is an American

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

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 ...

. She has a personal record of for the event. She represented the United States at the

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships, known as the IAAF World Championships in Athletics until 2019, are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics, formerly International Association of Athletics Federations. Alongside Olympic ...

in both 2011 and 2013. She also placed seventh at the

2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games () and commonly known as Guadalajara 2011, were an international multi-sport event held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby c ...

. Polk won her first national title at the age of 30, taking gold at the 2014

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 i ...

. She competed collegiately for the

Texas Tech Red Raiders The Texas Tech Red Raiders and Lady Raiders are the athletic teams that represent Texas Tech University, located in Lubbock, Texas, United States. The women's basketball team uses the name Lady Raiders, while the school's other women's teams us ...

and broke school records in the long jump and the 4×400-meter relay.

Career

Early life and career

Polk was born to Carl and Dianna Polk, the youngest of the family's six children. She grew up in

Hewitt, Texas Hewitt is a city in McLennan County, Texas, United States. The population was 16,026 at the 2020 census, making it the second largest city in the county. It is part of the Waco Metropolitan Statistical Area. History The community of Hewitt was ...

, and attended Midway High School. It was there that she began taking part in track and field and she was a two-time runner-up at the state high school championships. She went on enrol at

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public university, public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship instit ...

in 2002 and competed collegiately for the

.Tori Polk
Texas Tech Red Raiders. Retrieved on 2014-03-02. Initially she ran the

400-meter dash The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is on ...

for the school but began to do the long jump from 2004. That year she gained her first

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

honors by reaching the

NCAA Women's Indoor Track and Field Championship The NCAA Women's Indoor Track and Field Championship refers to one of three annual collegiate indoor track and field competitions for women organised by the National Collegiate Athletic Association for athletes from institutions that make up its th ...

with a school record of 3:33.85 for the relay. The team repeated this feat outdoors, improving to 3:29.49 minutes. In 2005, she broke the long jump school record with a jump of to take fourth at the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

indoor championship. In her best ever performance at the

NCAA Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championship The NCAA Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championship refers to one of three annual collegiate outdoor track and field competitions for women organised by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for athletes from institutions that make ...

she jumped to take sixth place – two weeks before she had broken the school record with a personal best of . Her last collegiate season was the 2006 indoors and it was also her best as she jumped and was twelfth at the NCAA indoors.

Professional career

Polk's first professional season in 2008 saw her place sixth at the

long jump, but she did not make the final of the

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 Oly ...

. She also had a personal record jump of in

Fayetteville, Arkansas Fayetteville ( ) is the List of cities and towns in Arkansas, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Washington County, Arkansas, Washington County, and the most populous city in Northwest Arkansas. The city ...

. She competed sparingly in 2009 but still ranked within the top ten nationally after improving to . Polk competed on the

IAAF World Challenge The IAAF World Challenge was an annual, global circuit of one-day track and field competitions organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation ...

circuit in 2010, travelling abroad to compete for the first time. She came sixth at both the Colorful Daegu Meeting and the Meeting Grand Prix IAAF de Dakar. Her season's best of that year ranked her 14th in the United States.Tori Polk

USATF USA Track & Field (USATF) is a 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 1 ...

. Retrieved on 2014-03-02. She made her breakthrough at international level at the age of 27. A jump of in

Clermont, Florida Clermont is the most populous city in Lake County, Florida, Lake County, within the U.S. state of Florida. The population was 43,021 in 2020. It is about west of Orlando, Florida, Orlando and southeast of Leesburg, Florida, Leesburg. The cit ...

moved her up to sixth in the national yearly lists and she placed fourth at the

2011 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The 2011 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships were held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. Organised by USA Track and Field, the four-day competition took place from June 23–26 and served as the national championships in track and field f ...

. As the winner of that event was

Brittney Reese Brittney Davon Reese (born September 9, 1986) is a retired American long jumper, 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 life Bo ...

(the reigning world champion), Polk was granted the additional fourth spot on the American team for 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 the ...

. In her international debut she only managed and placed second to last in the qualifying round. She made her second appearance for the United States shortly after, finishing seventh at the

.Tori Polk
Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2014-03-02. The following season did not bring as much opportunity: she had her best performance of at the 2012 United States Olympic Trials., but this was only enough for ninth place so she did not compete at the

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

. Her career reached new heights in 2013. She cleared the mark four times, including twice at the

2013 World Championships in Athletics The 14th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (Moscow 2013; ) was an international athletics (sport), athletics competition held in Moscow, Russia, from 10 to 18 August 2013. Initially, Russia at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics, Russia ...

, which helped her to eighth place on the world stage. A wind-assisted brought her to second place

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 Champion ...

. On the meet circuit, she competed frequently on the

2013 IAAF Diamond League The 2013 IAAF Diamond League was the fourth edition of the Diamond League, an annual series of fourteen one-day track and field meetings. The series began on 10 May in Doha, Qatar and ended on 6 September in Brussels, Belgium. Calendar Winner ...

tour (including fourth place in London and New York), as well as breaking the meet record at the

IAAF World Challenge Beijing IAAF World Challenge Beijing is an annual track and field competition held in Beijing, China, in May. First held in 2013, it takes place at the Beijing National Stadium, the venue for the Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics. It is part of the IA ...

. At the beginning of 2014 she won her first national title at the USA Indoor Championships, leaping an indoor best of . She received a two year ban from the sport for a doping infraction. She was caught for possession of a banned peptide in May 2015 and her two year ban carried from April 2016 to 2018.U.S. Track & Field Athlete Tori Polk Accepts Sanction for Non-Analytical Anti-Doping Rule Violation
USADA (2017-12-15). Retrieved on 2018-02-01.

Personal records

*Long jump outdoor – (2011 & 2013) *Long jump indoor – (2014) * 60-meter dash – 7.66 (2014) *

200-meter dash The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

– 24.19 (2005) *

– 55.13 (2004)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Polk, Tori Living people 1983 births Sportspeople from McLennan County, Texas Track and field athletes from Texas American female long jumpers Pan American Games track and field athletes for the United States Athletes (track and field) at the 2011 Pan American Games African-American track and field athletes Texas Tech Red Raiders women's track and field athletes Doping cases in athletics American sportspeople in doping cases USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners 21st-century African-American sportswomen 21st-century American sportswomen 20th-century African-American sportswomen 20th-century American sportswomen