Book Jackie Joyner-Kersee

Jackie Joyner-Kersee is the American track and field legend who dominated the heptathlon and long jump and has held the heptathlon world record since 1986. Raised in East St. Louis, Illinois, she earned an athletic scholarship to UCLA, where she starred in both track and field and basketball from 1980 to 1985. Across four Olympic Games she collected six medals: three gold, a silver and two bronze, including heptathlon gold at Seoul in 1988 and Barcelona in 1992 and long jump gold in 1988. She also won four world championship titles, two each in the heptathlon and long jump. Her honors include the James E. Sullivan Award in 1986, the Jesse Owens Award in 1986 and 1987, Associated Press Athlete of the Year in 1987 and recognition as a Library of Congress Living Legend, and she entered the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. Away from competition she founded the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation, which supports youth and families in her hometown, including a community center she helped build there. As a speaker she shares lessons on determination, resilience and lifting up the communities that shaped her.