Joyner-Kersee, Jackie (1962–)

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Joyner-Kersee, Jackie (1962–)

African-American track-and field athlete. Name variations: Jackie Kersee; Jackie Joyner. Born Mar 3, 1962, in East St. Louis, IL; sister-in-law of Florence Griffith Joyner; m. Robert Kersee (her coach), Jan 11, 1986.

Won 1st of 4 AAU Junior Olympics pentathlon titles (1977); became a star performer on UCLA's basketball and track teams; competed at Los Angeles Olympics (1984), winning a silver medal in heptathlon; broke the world high-jump record at Goodwill Games in Moscow, and became the 1st woman to score more than 7,000 points (1986); won gold medals in high jump and heptathlon at Seoul Olympics (1988); won a bronze in long jump and a gold in the heptathlon at Barcelona Olympics (1992), making her the greatest multievent champion ever, man or woman; won a bronze in the long jump at Atlanta Olympics (1996); won a gold medal in the heptathlon at Goodwill Games in NY (1998); organized and funded the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Community Foundation in East St. Louis.

See also Geri Harrington, Jackie Joyner-Kersee: Champion Athlete (Chelsea House, 1995) and autobiography (with Sonja Steptoe) A Kind of Grace (Warner, 1997); and Women in World History.