Jackie Joyner-Kersee: Destination Greatness

Named after the First Lady at the time of her birth, Jackie Joyner seemed destined for greatness. As a track and field star at Lincoln Senior High School she played volley ball and basketball. She led her teams to championships in each sport.  In her collegiate career at UCLA she set records and earned All-American honors.  Joyner became the first heptathlon competitor to score over 7,000 points. Remarkably, she broke that record six times, establishing a new world record four times.  Joyner-Kersee would go on to excel in Olympic competition.  Over the course of 16 years she competed four times winning six medals (three gold, one silver and two bronze).

In 2000, to give back to the community from which she came, Joyner-Kersee raised money to build a youth center. Jackie Joyner-Kersee, a product of East St. Louis, was voted by Sports Illustrated for Women magazine as the Greatest Female Athlete of the 21st century, leaving no doubt about the greatness she was destined to achieve.

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