Tora Harris

Tora Harris (born 21 September 1978) is an American high jumper. He is a Princeton University engineer of Taiwanese and African-American descent. Harris is an Olympian, a four-time national champion and two-time bronze medalist in international competition. He represented Team USA twice in the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, three times in the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics and has served as a representative once in the IAAF Continental Cup. He spent two years as the number one ranked high jumper in the United States.

In college, Harris was a five-time All-American, while earning the two individual (2002 indoor and outdoor) National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships. He also represented Team USA at one World University Games. He is both the Ivy League indoor and outdoor high jump record holder and Princeton's only two-time NCAA individual event track and field champion. He is an eight-time individual Ivy League/Heptagonal champion, winning the indoor and outdoor high jump championships four times each.


Early life

His mother, Susan (Su-Chen),[1] is Taiwanese. His father, who died in 2000, was African American.[1] His parents made him take Chinese lessons when he was young,[1] and he now speaks the language fluently.[2] He attended first grade in Taiwan, where he was introduced to jumping.[1] Harris high jumped 7 feet (2.13 m) in high school.[3] He placed second in the 1997 Georgia High School Association Class AAA high jump championships.[4] Harris is a 1997 alumnus of South Atlanta High School and was a member of Princeton University's graduating class of 2002.[2] Harris studied mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tora_Harris