Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Jacqueline "Jackie" Joyner-Kerseeis an American retired track and field athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the women's heptathlon as well as in the women's long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals, in those two events at four different Olympic Games. Sports Illustrated for Women magazine voted Joyner-Kersee the Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th century, just ahead of Babe Didrikson Zaharias...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRunner
Date of Birth3 March 1962
CitySt. Louis, MO
CountryUnited States of America
Ask any athlete: We all hurt at times. I'm asking my body to go through seven different tasks. To ask it not to ache would be too much.
Quality training is what I do now; before it was a combination of both quality and quantity. Now I'm not trying to be a world-class athlete, I don't need to train at that level. It's about being fit, fit for life.
The rewards are going to come, but my happiness is just loving the sport and having fun performing.
People assuming that because I'm a great athlete, I can dance. But no. My rhythm is off a little bit.
I don't think being an athlete is unfeminine. I think of it as a kind of grace.
The glory of sport comes from dedication, determination and desire. Achieving success and personal glory in athletics has less to do with wins and losses than it does with learning how to prepare yourself so that at the end of the day, whether on the track or in the office, you know that there was nothing more you could have done to reach your ultimate goal.
Age is no barrier. It's a limitation you put on your mind.
I don't think there is a perfect athlete. But if I had to come close to picking someone who demonstrates all the traits that I feel an athlete should have, I would say the perfect athlete would be Tiger Woods. He has the ability, he's humble and he's very good at what he does.
People assume that because I'm a great athlete, I can dance. But no. My rhythm is off a little bit.
don't want to put that capital in there, we can't force them as human beings. We can't do that.
Growing up in the time of Title IX - it was passed when I was 10 - I got a front-row seat to so many great moments in women's sports. Of course I didn't know it at the time.
There are a lot of other people that really play a significant role in helping you become an Olympian.
It's important to me to try and expose young people to the things they believe are off-limits to them. I tell them, 'There are no walls, only the ones we put up.' My advice to young people looking at my life is not to follow my footprint but to go out there and make their own.
It tells us story and there's a lot more we want to add to the collection like letters from the president.