Jackie Joyner-Kersee

When Jackie Joyner-Kersee enrolled at the University of California at Los Angeles on a scholarship to play basketball, it is unlikely that anyone envisioned her tremendous athletic potential. After graduating from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1985 with a B.A. degree in history, Jackie Joyner-Kersee went on to build one of the most illustrious athletic careers in the world of track and field.

She has won three gold, one silver and one bronze Olympic medals. She holds the American record for the long jump, and has held the heptathlon world record since 1986.

Jackie competed at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, where she won the silver medal in the heptathlon -- a two-day contest comprising the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, and 200-meter race on the first day, and the long jump, javelin, and 800-meter race on the second day.

Jackie married her coach, Bob Kersee, in 1986, the same year she gave up basketball for the heptathlon, setting two world records within one month. At the inaugural Goodwill Games in Moscow, she became the first woman ever to break the 7,000-point barrier.

Jackie competed at the Pan-American Games in Indianapolis in 1987 and the world championships in Rome, where she won gold medals in the long jump and heptathlon. At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, she won the gold medal and set the World, Olympic, and American records for the heptathlon. She also won the gold medal and set the Olympic record in the long jump at Seoul. In the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, Jackie won the gold medal for the heptathlon and won the bronze medal in the long jump. She later captured the heptathlon gold medal at the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.

Jackie has received many awards, including the 1985 Broderick Cup as outstanding collegiate woman athlete, the James E. Sullivan Award in 1986. She was also the recipient of the St. Louis Ambassadors Sportswoman of the Year and Sporting News Athlete of the Year awards, the first woman to be honored with either of these awards. She was honored by the Athletic Congress for being the first athlete to consecutively receive the Jesse Owens Memorial Award in 1986 and 1987. She was named Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year in 1987.

She retired from competition in 1998 following a final heptathlon victory at the Goodwill Games. Off the track, Joyner-Kersee is the President and Founder of JJK & Associates, a sports marketing company. As a way of giving back to the community that supported her, she created the JJK Community Foundation, which sponsors programs for disadvantaged youngsters.

"Excelling in athletics is great, but it is only a part of me...its only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what I plan to accomplish." Ask Jackie what her limits are, and she'll say she has none, and that the only person who can stop her from achieving her goal of motivating and educating both young and old on what achieving goals is really about - is her.

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