Jacqueline Joyner-Kersee, acclaimed as one of the greatest athletes of all time was named “The Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th Century” by Sports Illustrated in 1999. During her Olympic career, she won six medals in the Olympic Games (1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996). Her journey began at the first-ever heptathlon of the Olympics in 1984.
The heptathlon consists of seven events: 100m hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200m, long jump, javelin and 800m. ‘Jackie’ as she is affectionately known won the silver medal in the initial year of the event in 1984 and then blew everyone away in 1988 winning the gold with a world record of 7,291 points. This world record still stands after 33 years.
In 1988, she also won the gold in the long jump with an Olympic record of 24’ 3.75”. She would repeat as the Olympic long jump champion four years later in Barcelona 1992. Her Olympic medals tally include three gold, one silver and two bronze. Her brother, Al Joyner, the Olympic gold winner in triple jump, was married to the late great Florence Griffith Joyner.
Since officially retiring in 2001, Jackie is yet to slow down. Off the field, she has turned her enviable energy and focus to give back to the community where she grew up. Throughout the many highs of her life, the needs of her hometown have tugged at her. She has devoted herself to community work, giving speeches and mentoring athletes.
Birth and Early Life
Jacqueline Joyner was born on March 3, 1962, in East St. Louis, Illinois in the United States. She was named after Jacqueline Kennedy, the wife of the United States’ President John F. Kennedy following the words of Jackie’s grandmother, “Someday this girl will be the First Lady of something.”
As a high school athlete at East St. Louis Lincoln Senior High School, she qualified for the finals in the long jump at the 1980 Olympic Trials, finishing 8th. She was inspired to compete in multi-disciplinary track and field events after seeing a 1975 TV movie about Babe Didrikson Zaharias, who was chosen the “Greatest Female Athlete of the First Half of the 20th Century.”
Fifteen years later, Sports Illustrated for Women magazine voted Jackie, the greatest female athlete of all time, just ahead of Zaharias. Jackie attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where she starred in both track and field and in basketball from 1980 to 1985.
She was a starter in her forward position for each of her first three seasons (1980/81, 81/82, and 82/83) as well as in her senior (fifth) year, 84/85. She had red-shirted during the 83/84 academic year to concentrate on the heptathlon for the 1984 Summer Olympics.
She scored 1,167 points during her collegiate career, which places her 19th all time for the Bruins games. The Bruins advanced to the West Regional semi-finals of the 1985 NCAA Women’s Division I Basketball Tournament before losing to eventual runner-up Georgia.
In 1998, she was honored as one of the 15 greatest players in UCLA women’s basketball. In 2001, Jackie was voted the “Top Woman Collegiate Athlete of the Past 25 Years.”
Professional Career
She was a member of the Tiger World Class Athletic Club, West Coast Athletic Club and McDonald’s Track Club. Jackie won the long jump gold in 1988, and bronze in 1992 and 1996. In Olympic heptathlon competition, she won the silver in 1984 and the gold in 1988 and 1992.
A four-time World Outdoor Championships team member, she won long jump gold medals in 1987 and 1991, and heptathlon gold in 1987 and 1993. The USA 100m hurdles champion in 1994, Jackie won the national long jump title nine times, and the national championship in the heptathlon on eight occasions.
During her career at the USA Indoor Championships, she won the 60m hurdles title in 1992, and the long jump national crown in 1992, 1994 and 1995. As a collegian at UCLA, Jackie won the NCAA heptathlon title in 1982 and 1983.
The former long jump world record holder, she set the heptathlon world record four times and was a two-time 100m hurdles U.S. record holder, four-time U.S. long jump record holder, two-time U.S. 60m hurdles record holder and six-time and current U.S. indoor long jump record holder.
She is the current U.S. indoor 50m hurdles, 55m hurdles and 60m hurdles record holder. Jackie, the first woman ever to break 7,000 points in the heptathlon, was world ranked three times at 100m hurdles, 11 times at LJ (#1 three times) and 11 times in the heptathlon (#1 six times).
Los Angeles 1984 Summer Olympic Games
At the 1982 USA Outdoor Championships, Jackie won the heptathlon with 6041 points. At the 1984 US Olympic Trials, she gained 6520 points to win. The first of Jackie Joyner’s four Olympic appearances came in 1984, when she competed in both the heptathlon and long jump.
In the heptathlon, she fouled her first two attempts of the long jump and had to play it safe with a mediocre final jump. In the end, she missed the gold by just five points. Had she jumped just three centimetres farther or finished the 800m only one third of a second faster, she would have won. In the formal long jump competition, she was placed fifth.
At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, she won the silver medal in the heptathlon. Then she first achieved 7,000 points in heptathlon at the 1986 Goodwill Games. At 1986 and 1987 USA Indoor Championships, she won the long jump and 60 m hurdles. At 1987 USA Outdoor Championships, she won both the long jump and heptathlon.
Seoul 1988 Summer Olympic Games
Jackie won the heptathlon with 7215 points and the long jump clearing 7.45m at the 1988 U. S. Olympic Trials. By the 1988 Olympics, she was so much better at the heptathlon than all her competitors. At the Olympic Games in 1988, she won the gold, gaining 7291 points and beating the world record holder Wilhelmina Lust by 76 points.
Now known as Jackie Joyner-Kersee after marrying her coach Bob Kersee in 1986, set the heptathlon world record of 7,291 points. The silver and bronze medalists were Sabine John and AnkeVater-Behmerof East Germany. Five days later, she won her second gold, leaping to an Olympic record of 7.40 m (24 ft 3+1⁄4 in) in the long jump. She was the first American woman to earn gold medals in both the long jump and the heptathlon.
Jackie was everyone’s favorite to retain both her World titles earned four years earlier in Rome. However, her challenge was dramatically halted when, having won the long jump easily with a 7.32 m (24 ft 1⁄4 in) jump, she slipped on the takeoff board and careened head first into the pit, avoiding serious injury. She did, however, strain a hamstring, which led to her having to pull out of the heptathlon during the 200m at the end of the first day.
At 1990 USA Outdoor Championships, she won the long jump. At the 1991 USA Outdoor Championships she won both the long jump and heptathlon. Then, at 1992 USA Indoor Championships, she won the long jump and 60m hurdles.
Barcelona 1992 Summer Olympic Games
At 1992 U.S. Olympic Trials, she won both the long jump at 7.08m and heptathlon with 6695 points. In the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Jackie easily won heptathlon with 7044 points, earning her second Olympic gold medal. She also won the bronze medal in the long jump clearing 7.07m whilst her friend Heike Drechsler of Germany won the gold.
At 1993 USA Outdoor Championships, she won the long jump with 7.02m and the heptathlon with 6770 points. At the 1994 USA Indoor Championships, she secured the long jump with 7.13m and followed up the 1994 USA Outdoor Championships, winning long jump at 7.14m and 100 m hurdles in 12.88.
At 1995 USA Indoor Championships, she won long jump and then at the 1995 USA Outdoor Championships, secured the long jump and heptathlon.
Atlanta 1996 Summer Olympic Games
At the 1996 Olympic Trials, Jackie managed to win the long jump with 7.04 but sustained an injury to her right hamstring. By the time the heptathlon started at the Olympics, she was not fully recovered. After running the first event, the 100 m 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 sixth in the final.
At 34, she competed at the 1996 Olympic Games. Entered only in the long jump, she was in seventh place after five rounds. Her final jump of 7.00 m (22 ft 11+1⁄2 in) was long enough for her to leapfrogged into third place and secure the bronze medal.The Atlanta 1996 Olympics would be the last Olympics of Jackie’s long competitive 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.
Returning to track, she won the heptathlon at the 1998 Goodwill Games, scoring 6,502 points.Two years after retiring, she tried to qualify for the long jump event at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. She was placed sixth at 21–10 ¾.
World Records and Personal Best Achievements
The women’s heptathlon world record progression is ratified by the IAAF from 1981. The first record was established by Liesel Albert of West Germanyon October 8, 1978 at 5654 points. This world record was broken thrice in 1979, thrice in 1980, 4 times in 1981, once each in 1982 and 1983. On May 6, 1984, Sabiene Paetz of East Germany improved it to 6946 points in Potsdam.
Jackie Joyner established her first world record in heptathlon on July 7, 1986 with 7148 points in Moscow. A month later on August 2, 1986 she improved the world record to 7161 points in Houston. Two years later, on July 17, 1988, she established her third world record with 7215 points in Indianapolis. Finally, she improved her world record at Seoul 1988 Olympics on September 24, 1988 to 7291 points.
The world record breaking effort of 7291 points included, 100m hurdles – 12.69 secs (1172 points); Long jump – 7.27 m (1264 points – Heptathlon best and highest score for a single event); High jump – 1.86 m (1054); 200m – 22.56 secs (1123); Shot put – 15.80 m (915); Javelin throw – 45.66 m (776); 800m – 2:8.51 (987 – personal best).
Besides, she established a new world record in long jump on August 13, 1987 with a leap of 7.45 m. She also held three American indoor records - long jump - 7.13 m (March 5, 1994); 50 m hurdles - 6.67 (February 10, 1995); 55 m hurdles - 7.37 (February 3, 1989).
Jackie continues to hold her world record in heptathlon along with the top six all-time best results whilst her long jump record of 7.49 m is second on the long jump all-time list. In addition, she was a world class athlete in 100m hurdles and 200m.
She has consistently maintained that she competed throughout her career without performance-enhancing drugs. Her personal best achievements could be identified as 100m hurdles - 12.61; Long jump - 7.49 (still currently #2 all time, 3 cm behind the world record and she did it twice); High jump - 1.93;200m - 22.30; Shot put - 16.84; Javelin - 50.12; 800 m - 2 min 8.51.
Awards and Honours
She won the Broderick Award, (now the Honda Sports Award) as the nation’s best female collegiate track and field competitor in 1983 and 1985. She was awarded the Honda-Broderick Cup, given to the nation’s best female collegiate athlete in 1985.
Among her many accolades, Jackie won the 1986 James E. Sullivan Award as the nation’s top amateur athlete, and became the first American to win the USA Track & Field’s Jesse Owens Award twice, in 1986 and 1987.
In 1997, she won the Jack Kelly Fair Play Award. She is a 2000 St. Louis Walk of Fame inductee.
In 2005, she was inducted as a Laureate of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded the Order of Lincoln in Sports (the State’s highest honor). She was 2010 NCAA Silver Anniversary Awards honoree and the winner of the 2011 Dick Enberg Award, College Sports Information Director of America.
Legacy
In 1988, she established the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation which supports at-risk youth in East St. Louis and provides youth, adults, and families with athletic, academic lessons and the resources to improve their quality of life.
In 1996, the Jesse Owens Award was split to be given to the top athlete of each gender and in 2013, the Female award was renamed the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Award.
In 2000, Kersee played herself in an episode of ‘The Jersey’ called “Legacy” where Nick Lighter (played by Michael Galeota) uses a magical jersey by jumping into her body as he is coached by her husband (played by Bob Kersee) on how to put the shot for a track and field competition.
In 2007, she helped establish, ‘Athletes for Hope,’ along with other champions like Andre Agassi, Muhammad Ali, Lance Armstrong, Warrick Dunn, Mia Hamm, Jeff Gordon, Tony Hawk, Andrea Jaeger, Mario Lemieux, Alonzo Mourning and Cal Ripken Jr. It is a charitable organization that helps professional athletes to get involved in charitable causes and inspires millions of non-athletes to volunteer and support the community.
She collaborated with Comcast to create the Internet Essentials program in 2011, which costs $9.95/month for low-income Americans and offers low-cost laptops and 40 hours/month of high-speed internet service. Since its inception, it has provided internet access to 4 million Americans.
She is on the Board of Directors for USA Track & Field, the national governing body of the sport. She is the author of ‘A Kind of Grace,’ her autobiography, and ‘A Woman’s Place is Everywhere.’ As a philanthropist and advocate, she works for racial equality, women’s rights, social reform, children’s education.
Jackie is no stranger to challenge. She was diagnosed with severe asthma as a freshman in college - the same year she suffered the loss of her mother. “While I was in the storm I thought, ‘that’s just life.’ Now I’ve had time to reflect, and I realized ‘No, that’s a lot to go through’.” To this day she maintains a positive attitude: “Every step of the way I have had different challenges, and I think that’s what motivated me, because when I could have given up I found the energy to fight through.”
(The author is the winner of Presidential Awards for Sports and recipient of multiple National Accolades for Academic pursuits. He possesses a PhD, MPhil and double MSc. He can be reached at [email protected])