Jackie Joyner-Kersee (born March 3, 1962 in East St. Louis, Illinois) is a retired American athlete, ranked amongst the all-time greatest in heptathlon as well as the long jump. She won three gold, one silver and two bronze Olympic medals.
Jackie Joyner was born in East St. Louis, Illinois. She was named after Jackie Kennedy. She was inspired to compete in multi-discipline events after seeing a 1975 television movie about "Babe" Didrikson. She attended Lincoln High School.
Jackie attended college at UCLA, where she starred in both track and basketball from 1980-1985. In basketball, she played forward and scored more than 1,000 points during her career. She was honored on February 21, 1998 as one of the 15 greatest players in UCLA women's basketball.
In April 2001, Jackie was voted the "Top Woman Collegiate Athlete of the Past 25 Years." The vote was conducted among the 976 NCAA member schools.
Competition
1984 Summer Olympics
Jackie competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and earned a silver medal in the heptathlon.
1986 Goodwill Games
Joyner-Kersee was the first woman to score over 7,000 points in a heptathlon event (during the 1986 Goodwill Games). In 1986, she received the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur heptathlete in the United States.
1988 Summer Olympics
In the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea, Jackie earned gold medals in both the heptathlon and the long jump. At the 1988 Games in Seoul, she set the still-standing heptathlon world record of 7,291 points. The silver and bronze medalists were Sabine John and Anke Vater-Behmer, both of whom were representing East Germany. Five days later, she won her second gold, leaping an Olympic record 24-3.5 in the long jump.
1992 Summer Olympics
In the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, Jackie earned her third Olympic gold medal in the heptathlon. She also won the bronze medal in the long jump which was won by friend Heike Drechsler of Germany.
1996 Summer Olympics
At the Olympic Trials, Jackie sustained an injury to her right hamstring. When the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia began, Jackie was not fully recovered by the time the heptathlon started. After running the first event, the 100m hurdles, the pain was unbearable and she withdrew. She was able to recover well enough to compete in the long jump and qualify for the final, but was in sixth place in the final with one jump remaining. Her final jump, of 22' 11 3/4", was long enough for her to take the bronze medal. The Atlanta Olympics would be the last Olympics of Jackie's career.
Professional Basketball Career
In 1996 she signed on to play pro basketball for the Richmond Rage of the fledgling American Basketball League. Although she was very popular with the fans, she was less successful on the court. She appeared in only 17 games, and scored no more than four points in any game.
1998 Goodwill Games
Returning to track, Joyner-Kersee won the heptathlon again at the 1998 Goodwill Games), scoring 6,502 points.
2000 Olympic Trials
Joyner-Kersee made her final bow in track & field competition in 2000. She was sixth in the long jump (21-10.75) at the Olympic Trials, closing one of the greatest careers in U.S. track & field history.
Current world records
As of August 2007, Joyner-Kersee holds the world record in heptathlon along with six all time best results and her long jump record of 7.49 m is second on the long jump all time list. In addition to heptathlon and long jump, she was a world class athlete in 100 m hurdles and 200 meters being as of June 2006 in top 60 all time in those events.
Sports Illustrated voted her the greatest female athlete of the 20th century.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee's heptathlon series could be viewed as achieved in an era where performance enhancing, and forbidden, drugs were very common. However Joyner-Kersee always has advocated staying drug-free. She consistently has maintained that she has competed throughout her career without performance-enhancing drugs.
