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Jackie Joyner-Kersee

BIRTHDAY: March 3, 1962

ABOUT HER
Jackie Joyner-Kersee attended the University of California at Los Angeles on a basketball scholarship while she was completing her degree in history. During college she tried out for track and field and within a few years took home an Olympic silver medal in the heptathlon.

Now,after winning three Olympic medals, she is recognized as the world's best all-around female athlete --even though she has asthma. She believes in working as hard as possible at whatever she does.

Ms. Joyner-Kersee owns the top five marks on the All Time List in the U.S. Women's Long Jump Competition and currently holds the World Record in the heptathlon and the American Record in the Long Jump.

She has started the JJK Community Foundation to develop leadership programs in urban areas across the United States.

AWARDS/HONORS

• 3 Olympic medals
• The Sullivan Award, the most prestigious amateur athletic award in sports
• First woman to get the St. Louis Ambassadors Sportswoman of the Year
• First woman to get the Sporting News Athlete of the Year award
• The Jessie Owens Memorial Award

Search our past database for famous women astronauts, politicians, athletes, mathematicians, authors, and educators: More Women of Achievement.