Jackie Joyner Kersee Research Papers

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Jennifer Archibald Creates a Work about Olympian Jackie Joyner Kersee-Analysis Obtaining a renowned reputation of being the first American to ever claim a gold medal in the Olympics’ long jump event is not as simple of a task as it seems- though it was accomplished by a world-record heptathlon holder, Jackie Joyner Kersee (also known as Jacqueline Joyner or Jackie Joyner). Born on March 3rd, 1962 in East St. Louis, Illinois, Jackie Joyner-Kersee strived through poverty, racial discrimination, and tragedy with her athletic talent during most of her childhood. Joyner had won the National Junior pentathlon championships for four consecutive years, permitting her to receive honors in athletics, especially track and field, basketball, and volleyball. During her junior year of high school, she set a new woman’s long jump record of 6.68 meters. Her athletic excellence and elite skills caught the eye of many universities one of which being the University of California (UOC)-which she attended solely on a scholarship. Continuing to accumulate fame and glory for her basketball and …show more content…

She set a still-standing world record of in the heptathlon of the 1988 Summer Olympics consisting of a remarkable 7291 points. Joyner was a former world-record holder for long jump in 1987- a 7.45 meter jumps. The record was broken by Galina Chistyakova with a massive jump of 7.52 meters. Jackie Joyner Kersee’s last Olympic heptathlon was in 1966 where she could not continue the entire event due to a pulled hamstring. She only withdrew from the competition as the sports would stress the muscle, but, only after winning a bronze medal in the long jump event. Still regarded as one of the finest female athletes of all time, Jackie Joyner Kersee officially retired from her athletic expedition at the age of 38 from suffering exercise-induced