Joyner kersee biography
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Jackie Joyner-Kersee
American retired track and field athlete (born 1699)
Jacqueline Joyner-Kersee (born March 3, 1962) is a retired American track and field athlete who competed in both the heptathlon and long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals at four different Olympic Games. Joyner-Kersee was also a four-time gold medalist (twice each in heptathlon and long jump) at the world championships. Since 1988, she has held the world record for heptathlon.
Early life
[edit]Jacqueline Joyner was born March 3, 1962, in East St. Louis, Illinois, and was named after Jacqueline Kennedy, the First Lady of the United States.[2] 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 behind another high schooler, Carol Lewis.[3] She was inspired to compete in multi-disciplinary track & field events after seeing a movie about Bab
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Inductees
To a generation of kids who came of age in the 1980s and early 1990s, she will be the incredible track and field superstar forever remembered standing atop the Olympic podium, both of her arms raised in the air while sporting a stars and stripes jacket and hoisting flowers.
To kids of this generation, they are unlikely to think of her as icon in sport but as an icon in philanthropy, eager to help less fortunate children and families in her hometown.
As he once told Forbes magazine, “Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something. You can turn a doubter into a believer as long as you believe.”
Having been dubbed “The Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th Century’ by Sports Illustrated, Joyner-Kersee’s athletic accomplishments are literally second to none. And her accomplishments are why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted Joyner-Kersee with the Class of 2018.
By the conclusion of her career in the heptathlon and long jump events, she had amassed si
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Jackie Joyner-Kersee
1962-present
Who Is Jackie Joyner-Kersee?
Jackie Joyner-Kersee is one of the greatest track and field athletes in American history. The first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in the long jump and the first woman to compile more than 7,000 points in the seven-event heptathlon, Joyner-Kersee went on to win three golds, a silver and two bronze medals over four separate Olympics. She was named Sports Illustrated for Women's top female athlete of the 20th century.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Jackie Joyner-Kersee
BORN: March 3, 1962
BIRTHPLACE: East St. Louis, Illinois
SPOUSE: Bob Kersee (1986-present)
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Pisces
Early Hardship and Athletic Success
Joyner-Kersee was born on March 3, 1962, in East St. Louis, Illinois. The daughter of teenage parents, she endured financial hardship while growing up, but soon rose above the pack with her athletic prowess.
As a teen, she won the National Junior Pentathlon championships four years in a ro