The accent remains unmistakably Southern, the product of being raised in Burlington, N.C., and spending four years in Chattanooga, attending McCallie School. But this summer Michael Bingham is likely to represent the United Kingdom, home to a father that deserted his family, at the Beijing Olympics.
Because his father, Norris, is a U.K. native, Bingham has dual citizenship. Despite having little or no contact with his father from the time he was 9 years old until he began college, Bingham will use that contact to pursue his dream of running in the Olympics.
“Even though I was born here, my citizenship through my father allows me to represent the U.K.,” Bingham said. “If I can qualify in July, it will be a dream come true to compete at that level.”
Bingham will attempt to qualify in the 400-meter dash and the 4x400 relay. As both an indoor and outdoor All-American at Wake Forest University, Bingham’s most recent times in the 400 would have likely qualified him.
Over the past 18 years I have been fortunate to cover some of the best athletes Chattanooga has ever produced. Former Red Bank star Gerald Riggs was rated the nation’s top running back by several recruiting services,and Vincent Yarbrough was also the nation’s top prep basketball prospect while at Cleveland. But no local athlete dominated his her sport the way Bingham did in track and field.
His junior season, only his second year to compete, he won the Division II state championships in the 110- and 300-meter hurdles, as well as the 100-meter dash and decathlon.
The following year he became the star of the Spring Fling in Memphis by becoming the state’s first, and still only, sprinter to record the fastest times in all classifications in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter events. That same day he also won the state title in the triple jump and was second in the long jump and high jump. Earlier that week he had set a state record for points by winning six of the 10 events in breezing to his second straight decathlon crown.
It was during his senior season that the idea of Bingham possibly becoming an Olympian began being discussed. In his sixth and final event at the Optimist Meet, Bingham blistered the meet record in the 200, a mark that had been set by Olympic sprinter Ramon Clay.
By the time he left McCallie, Bingham owned nine school records. His senior year, opposing coaches often would move their athletes into events in which he was not entered, conceding they couldn’t beat him.
Bingham’s determination likely is the result of a childhood spent feeling responsible for his five younger siblings. After his father returned to Nottingham, England, Michael took it upon himself to become the man of the house for his mother, Mollissie.
His younger brother Zachery has Down syndrome and required heart surgery when Michael was 13. To allow his mother to return to work, Michael would spend afternoons at the hospital with Zachery, then go home at night to watch his other siblings. His mother once told me that when she took the kids to buy school clothes and shoes, Michael would tell the others to pick theirs out first, then would pick out cheaper things for himself.
“I can’t explain what motivates me,” Bingham said. “I’m very proud of what I’ve accomplished at Wake Forest and I’m anxious to see what I can do at the Olympic trials. I’ve always just tried to focus on the things I can control, and that’s still my approach for this.
“I just want to make my family and everybody proud.”
Bingham has certainly accomplished that much, regardless of what happens at July’s Olympic trials.
Stephen has covered high school sports in the tri-state area since the early 1990s, starting at the News-Free Press as a 19-year-old reporter. He has been with the Times Free Press since its inception and has been an assistant sports editor for more than seven years. Stephen is among the most decorated writers in the TFP’s newsroom, winning numerous state and regional awards for his writing on high school athletics. He has two children, Riley ...
