Michael Alex Conley, Sr. (born October 5, 1962, in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

) is a former American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 track and field

Track and field

Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

 athlete who competed primarily in the triple jump

Triple jump

The triple jump is a track and field sport, similar to the long jump, but involving a “hop, bound and jump” routine, whereby the competitor runs down the track and performs a hop, a bound and then a jump into the sand pit.The triple jump has its origins in the Ancient Olympics and has been a...

 and the long jump

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 take off point...

. He is a gold and silver Olympic

Olympiad

An Olympiad is a period of four years, associated with the Olympic Games of Classical Greece. In the Hellenistic period, beginning with Ephorus, Olympiads were used as calendar epoch....

 medalist and world

1993 World Championships in Athletics

The 4th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held in the Gottlieb Daimler Stadium, Stuttgart, Germany between August 13 and August 22 with the participation of 187 nations....

 champion in the triple jump.

Competitive career

Conley competed collegiately at the University of Arkansas

Arkansas Razorbacks

The Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the names of college sports teams at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The term Arkansas Razorbacks properly applies to any of the sports teams at the university. The Razorbacks take their name from the feral pig of the same name...

 where he won 16 NCAA long jump and triple jump titles. Conley still owns the U.S. indoor record in the triple jump at 17.76 meters (58 feet, 3.25 inches).

Conley received the USATF Jim Thorpe

Jim Thorpe

Jacobus Franciscus "Jim" Thorpe * Gerasimo and Whiteley. pg. 28 * americaslibrary.gov, accessed April 23, 2007. was an American athlete of mixed ancestry...

 award in 1986 and 1992 as the top field events athlete in the US. In 2004, Conley was inducted into the United States National Track and Field Hall of Fame

National Track and Field Hall of Fame

The National Track and Field Hall of Fame located within the Armory Foundation at 216 Fort Washington Avenue, between 168th and 169th Streets, in Washington Heights, in the New York City borough of Manhattan, is a museum operated by The Armory Foundation in conjunction with USA Track & Field...

.

A 5'11" basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 player at the point guard

Point guard

Point guard , also called the play maker or "the ball-handler", is one of the standard positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position – essentially, he is expected to run the team's offense by controlling the ball and making sure that...

 position in high school and in college (only during his freshman

Freshman

A freshman or fresher is a first-year student in secondary school, high school, or college. The term first year can also be used as a noun, to describe the students themselves A freshman (US) or fresher (UK, India) (or sometimes fish, freshie, fresher; slang plural frosh or freshmeat) is a...

 year), Conley relied on those skills in winning the Foot Locker

Foot Locker

Foot Locker, Inc. is an American sportswear and footwear retailer, with its headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, and operating in approximately 20 countries worldwide. Formerly known as Venator Group, Inc., it is the successor corporation to the F.W. Woolworth Company , and many of...

 Celebrity Slam Dunk

Slam dunk

A slam dunk is a type of basketball shot that is performed when a player jumps in the air and manually powers the ball downward through the basket with one or both hands over the rim. This is considered a normal field goal attempt; if successful it is worth two points. The term "slam dunk" was...

 Contest in 1988, '89 and '92.

Post-competitive career

Conley was President and remains on the Board of Directors of World Sport Chicago, the "living legacy" of Chicago's 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Bid, that focuses on promoting and developing sport programs and events for the youth of Chicago. Chicago had been selected as the US entry into the bid process. Previously, he was the executive director of the High Performance program of USA Track and Field

USA Track and Field

USA Track & Field is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking...

.

Conley is member of the Conley family

Conley family

The Conley Family, Huntsville, Alabama family of the Reverend Green Conley , is notable for its place in academic, social, political and athletic accomplishments in United States. The family is largely of African and Irish American origin, and came into prominence during the late 19th century and...

 and the father of Memphis Grizzlies

Memphis Grizzlies

The Memphis Grizzlies are a professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. The team is part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . Along with the Toronto Raptors, the Grizzlies were established in 1995 as part of the NBA's...

 basketball player Mike Conley, Jr.

Mike Conley, Jr.

Michael Alex "Mike" Conley, Jr. is an American professional basketball player for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association.Conley is the son of Olympic gold and silver medalist triple jumper Mike Conley, Sr...

 and the older brother of former Pittsburgh Steelers

Pittsburgh Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...

 linebacker Steve Conley

Steve Conley

Donald Steven Conley is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League. Conley played for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Indianapolis Colts in his three year career...

. Conley has registered with the NBA as an agent and represented his son and his son's Ohio State teammates Greg Oden

Greg Oden

Gregory Wayne Oden, Jr. is an American basketball player at the center position. Oden is a member of the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA....

 and Daequan Cook

Daequan Cook

Daequan Cook is an American basketball player and currently a shooting guard for the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder....

 when they entered the league.
Oden officially declared for the NBA draft by signing with Mike Conley, Sr., as his agent and was subsequently chosen as the number one player in the 2007 NBA Draft

2007 NBA Draft

The 2007 NBA Draft was held on June 28, 2007 at the WaMu Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. It was broadcast on television in 115 countries. In this draft, National Basketball Association teams took turns selecting amateur U.S...

. Conley, Jr., was selected fourth overall. Cook was drafted 21st.

In late December 2007, Conley was accused by KARK-TV

KARK-TV

KARK, virtual channel 4, is the NBC-affiliated television station for Central Arkansas that is licensed to Little Rock. Owned by the Nexstar Broadcasting Group, the station is sister to MyNetworkTV affiliate KARZ-TV and the two share studios on West Capitol Avenue in Downtown Little Rock one block...

 in Little Rock, Arkansas

Little Rock, Arkansas

Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...

 of purchasing a Cadillac Escalade

Cadillac Escalade

The Cadillac Escalade is a full-size luxury sport utility vehicle sold by the General Motors luxury brand, Cadillac. It was the division's first major entry into the popular SUV market. The Escalade was introduced for the 1999 model year in response to German and Japanese competitors and to Ford's...

 for Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

 junior running back Darren McFadden

Darren McFadden

Darren McFadden is an American football running back who currently plays for the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League . He played college football for the University of Arkansas from 2005 to 2007...

, which would have jeopardized McFadden's status as an amateur athlete for the 2008 Cotton Bowl Classic and a possible senior season. KARK later retracted the report and apologized to Conley.

Rankings

Conley had a particularly long and prolific career and he was considered among the world's best for over a decade. Track and Field News ranked him among the top ten triple jumpers in the world 14 consecutive years (six times as world's best) and seven times in the long jump.

Year	TJ world rank	TJ US rank	LJ world rank	LJ US rank
1982	-	5th	-	6th
1983	4th	2nd	4th	4th
1984	1st	1st	-	5th
1985	2nd	2nd	2nd	2nd
1986	1st	1st	4th	3rd
1987	2nd	1st	7th	4th
1988	5th	1st	-	5th
1989	1st	1st	5th	4th
1990	3rd	2nd	-	-
1991	3rd	2nd	-	-
1992	1st	1st	8th	6th
1993	1st	1st	-	8th
1994	1st	1st	-	-
1995	9th	1st	-	-
1996	4th	2nd	8th	6th

Conley was also ranked 8th in the US in the 200 meter dash

200 metres

A 200 metres race is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 m track, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques are needed to successfully run the race. A slightly shorter race, called the stadion and run on a straight track, was the first...

in 1985.