Jackie Joyner-Kersee was an American track and field athlete who specialized in the heptathlon and long jump. She is widely considered as one of the greatest female athletes of all time, and Sports Illustrated for Women named her the Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th Century. Joyner-Kersee won four gold medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow and set nine world records during her career.
Joyner-Kersee started competing at a young age and by the time she was 18 years old she had already won three national championships in three different events. In 1977 she broke two more records with a heptathlon score of 6142 points and a long jump distance of 22 feet 9 inches. At the 1979 World Championships in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Joyner-Kersee improved her own heptathlon record again with a total of 6510 points. This makes her the first person to ever break the 7000 point barrier. At the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Russia, Joyner-Kersee continued her great form by winning the gold medal with a total of 7531 points. The heptathlon consists of seven separate events including a 1.5 kilometer road race, two jumps (high jump and long jump), two throws (shot put and discus), and a 400 meter race.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee, full name Jacqueline Joyner-Kersee, née Jacqueline Joyner (born March 3, 1962, East St. Louis, Illinois, United States), was an American athlete often regarded as the best female athlete of all time. She was the first heptathlon competitor to earn more than 7,000 points. Her seven medals at the World Championships in Athletics are a record for the men's event.
Joyner-Kersee won eight gold medals and set 13 world records during her career. She is the only person to have won both the Olympic gold medal in heptathlon and the heptathlon at the World Championships.
After retiring from competitions, Joyner-Kersee became a successful businesswoman and entrepreneur who owns several fitness centers around the world. She also has her own line of sports apparel called JJK Sports.
She lives in Fayetteville, North Carolina, with her husband and two children. She still participates in athletic events such as running races while working out in the gym.
Joyner-Kersee attended East St. Louis High School before going on to compete at the University of Georgia. She was named to the University of Georgia Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013. After graduating from Georgia with a degree in kinesiology in 1984, she went on to have a successful career as a professional track and field athlete.
Jacqueline Joyner-Kersee (born March 3, 1962) is a former American track and field athlete who is regarded as one of the all-time greats in the heptathlon and long jump. In those two events, she won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals in four separate Olympic Games. She also holds the world record in the heptathlon with 6143 points.
Joyner-Kersee came from a family of athletes: her mother and sister were both sprinters who competed for the United States at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Her father was an Olympic hurdler. When Joyner-Kersee was only five years old, she began taking part in local races with her parents. When she was nine, she started training daily with a coach to improve her running skills.
At age 14, Joyner-Kersee became the first American woman to win the World Junior Championships when she took home the title in Japan. A year later, at the U.S. National Track & Field Championships, she set a new national record in the heptathlon with 6142 points. This mark still stands today. After winning the gold medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, Joyner-Kersee turned professional and went on to have a successful career. She returned to the Olympics four more times, winning three more gold medals and one silver.
Joyner-Kersee was the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in the long jump and the first woman to score more than 7,000 points in the seven-event heptathlon. She went on to win three gold medals, a silver medal, and two bronze medals in four different Olympics. She was awarded Sports Illustrated's top female athlete of the twentieth century.
The longest gap between an Olympic gold medalist and another gold medalist is twenty-one years - from when Bruce Jenner won his gold medal in Montreal to when David Alaba of Austria won his gold medal in Rio de Janeiro.
Currently, there are two Americans who have gold medals hanging from their necks. They are Michael Phelps and Simone Biles. There are also two other Americans who have gold medals around their necks in bridal suites somewhere in America. These people are not currently competing in the Olympics. Their names are Tiffany Porter and Dana Vollmer.
Phelps and Biles are two very different athletes. Biles is young and has only been jumping for a few years. However, she has already won multiple gold medals and is considered by many to be the best jumper in the world. Phelps on the other hand is forty-two years old and hasn't jumped in over a year because of health issues. He still holds the record for most gold medals won by an athlete in one Olympiad with sixteen but isn't considered one of the top jumpers anymore.
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