Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Jackie Joyner-Kersee was born in East St. Louis, Illinois, United States on March 3rd, 1962 and is the Runner. At the age of 62, Jackie Joyner-Kersee biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 62 years old, Jackie Joyner-Kersee has this physical status:
Jacqueline Joyner-Kersee (born March 3, 1962) is an American retired track and field athlete who has been ranked one of the all-time greatest athletes in the heptathlon and long jump.
In those two events at four separate Olympic Games, she earned three gold, one silver, and two bronze medals.
Joyner-Kersee was named the Greatest Female Athlete of All Time by a Women magazine.
She serves on the Board of Directors for USA Track & Field (USATF), the sport's national governing body.Joyner-Kersee is a vocal philanthropist who works on children's education, racial justice, and women's rights.
She is the founder of the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation, which encourages young people in East St. Louis to pursue athletics and academics.
In 2011, she and Comcast joined up to develop the Internet Essentials scheme, which includes low-cost laptops and 40 hours/month of high-speed internet access for low-income Americans.
Since its inception, Joyner-Kersee has been providing internet access to 4 million Americans.
Early life
Jacqueline Joyner was born in East St. Louis, Illinois, on March 3, 1962, and was named after Jacqueline Kennedy, the First Lady of the United States. She qualified for the finals at East St. Louis Lincoln Senior High School in 1980, finishing 8th behind another high schooler, Carol Lewis. After seeing a film about Babe Didrikson Zaharias, she was inspired to participate in multi-disciplinary track & field events. Didrikson, the track star, basketball player, and pro golfer, was named the "Greatest Female Athlete of the First Half of the twentieth century" by the aforementioned scholar. Joyner-Kersee was the top female celebrity of all time, judging Zaharias fifteen years ago.
Jackie Joyner attended college at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she competed in both track & field and women's basketball from 1980-1955. She appeared in her first three seasons (1980–81, 80–82, and 82–83), as well as her senior (fifth) year, 1984–1985. She had red-shirted from 1983-84 academic year to honed on the 1984 Summer Olympics's heptathlon.
In 1983 and 1985, she received the Broderick Award (now the Honda Sports Award) as the country's best female collegiate track and field athlete, and in 1985 she was named the nation's best female collegiate athlete.
During her undergraduate career, she scored 1,167 points, placing her 19th all time for the Bruins games. The Bruins advanced to the NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament's West Regional semi-finals before losing to eventual runner Georgia.
On February 21, 1998, she was voted one of UCLA's top female basketball players. Joyner-Kersee was named "Top Woman Collegiate Athlete of the Past 25 Years" in April 2001. The vote was held at 976 NCAA member schools.
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Personal life
Al Joyner, Jackie's uncle, was married to Olympic track champion Florence Griffith Joyner. In 1986, Jackie married Bob Kersee, Jackie's track coach.
Joyner-Kersee Foundation, founded in 1988, gives youth, adults, and families with athletic, academic, and financial information to help them enhance their quality of life with special attention paid to East St. Louis, Illinois. In 2007, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Andre Agassi, Muhammad Ali, Lance Armstrong, Warrick Dunn, Mia Hamm, Thomas Hawk, Andrea Lemieux, Alonzo Mourning, and Cal Ripken Jr. founded Athletes for Hope, a charitable group that supports thousands of non-athletics and inspires millions of non-athletics to volunteer and support the cause.
Awards and honors
- 1983 Broderick Award (now Honda Sports Award)
- 1985 Broderick Award (now Honda Sports Award)
- 1986 James E. Sullivan Award
- 1986 Jesse Owens Award
- 1987 Jesse Owens Award
- 1997 Jack Kelly Fair Play Award
- 2000 St. Louis Walk of Fame inductee
- 2005 was inducted as a Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the State's highest honor) by the Governor of Illinois in the area of Sports
- 2010 NCAA Silver Anniversary Awards honoree
- 2011 Dick Enberg Award, College Sports Information Director of America (CoSIDA)