Jackie Joyner-Kersee Biography

Jackie Joyner-Kersee is an American retired track and field athlete who won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals at four different Olympic Games. Ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the women's heptathlon as well as in the women's long jump, she was voted the Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th century by the ‘Sports Illustrated for Women’ magazine. Born in East St. Louis, Illinois, she took to sports at an early age and as a teenager she won the first of four consecutive National Junior Pentathlon championships. A good student who managed to maintain decent academic record throughout high school despite her extensive involvement in sporting activities, she won a scholarship to the University of California, Los Angeles. There she excelled in both track & field and in women's basketball. As the 1984 Summer Olympics neared, she focused more on training for the event, specifically for the heptathlon. She gave an exciting performance at the Games and won the silver medal in the heptathlon. Determined to do better at the next Olympics, she trained even harder and managed to clinch the gold in both the heptathlon and the long jump. Over the course of her career she created several world records, some of which stand unbeaten even today, years after her retirement.