The 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles brought about many changes. Not only was the city of Los Angeles rearranging every aspect of their existence to be a host city, but there was an entire buzz of new athletes that were entering the fold. One of these athletes was Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
Born in 1962, Jackie was named after Jackie Kennedy. Little did her parents know that their daughter was destined for greatness. Jackie excelled in all kinds of sports, but in high school proved her worth by qualifying for the 1980 Olympic Trials in Long Jump competition. But it wasn’t until she watched the movie about Babe Didrikson Zaharias that she made the decision to train for the track and fields event. This is a multiple disciplinary level and is considered one of the most difficult.
Jackie began attending college but continued to be the star in track and field as well as women’s basketball. During the 1983-84 seasons, she selected to red-shirt so that she could continue training for the 1984 Summer Olympics heptathlon event. This seemed to be a wise choice, because Jackie brought a silver medal home in the 1984 Summer Olympics. This spurred her forward to continue training. In the 1988 Goodwill Games, Jackie with the top amateur athlete award: the James E. Sullivan Award. The 1988 Summer Olympics were held in Seoul, Korea and Jackie’s performance blew everyone out of the park: a gold medal for the Long Jump and heptathlon; setting a heptathlon record on top of that!
It seems that everyone was cheering for Jackie as she continued to the World Championships in Tokyo, but a bad slip on the take off board caused a ham string sprain and she had to make the choice to bow out of the heptathlon event. Nothing seems to stop Jackie and the Summer Olympics in 1992 gave her the chance to bring a second gold medal home for the heptathlon. By the time the 1996 Olympics arrived, Jackie was ready. But, another hamstring injury forced her to withdraw from the heptathlon. She wasn’t quite recovered enough for the long jump, but she refused to give up. On her last jump she managed to get the bronze medal.
The never give up attitude that Jackie displayed was continued in the 1998 Goodwill Games. Her efforts paid off as she again won the heptathlon.
It is ironic to note that the idol Jackie looked up to, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, was chosen as the “Greatest Female Athlete of the First Half of the Twentieth Century”. Jackie Joyner-Kersee was selected by Sports Illustrated for Women as “The Greatest Female Athlete of the Twentieth Century”. Jackie has set records that remain unbroken and established herself as an athlete of excellence. She received the Jesse Owens awards in both 1986 and 1987 and has an additional list of awards and honors that extend beyond what she ever hoped for.
She made the decision in 1988 to set up The Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation. The purpose of the foundation is to assist youth and adults as well as their families in athletic lessons and life improvement. She joined with many other notable athletes in participating with the establishment of Athletes for Hope, which gives professional athletes a base to work from for the purpose of volunteering and being involved in charitable and non-profit causes.