Jackie Joyner

Kersee (in white) standing behind President Barack Obama
Personal information
Full name	Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Nationality	American
Sport
Country	United States
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	Long jump, Heptathlon
Medal record Women's Athletics Competitor for the  United States Olympic Games Gold 1988 Seoul Heptathlon Gold 1988 Seoul Long jump Gold 1992 Barcelona Heptathlon Silver 1984 Los Angeles Heptathlon Bronze 1992 Barcelona Long jump Bronze 1996 Atlanta Long jump World Championships Gold 1987 Rome Long jump Gold 1987 Rome Heptathlon Gold 1991 Tokyo Long jump Gold 1993 Stuttgart Heptathlon Pan American Games Gold 1987 Indianapolis Long jump

Jacqueline "Jackie" Joyner-Kersee (born March 3, 1962) is a retired American athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the women's heptathlon as well as in the women's long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals, in those two events at four different Olympic Games. Sports Illustrated for Women magazine voted Joyner-Kersee the Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th century, just ahead of Babe Didrikson Zaharias.

After retiring as a competitive athlete, Joyner-Kersee has been involved with many philanthropic efforts and has joined the Board of Directors for USA Track & Field (USATF), the national governing body of the sport.^[1]

Early life[link]

Jacqueline Joyner was born March 3, 1962, in East St. Louis, Illinois, and was named after Jackie Kennedy. As a high school athlete at East St. Louis Lincoln High School, she qualified for the finals in the Long Jump at the 1980 Olympic Trials, finishing 8th behind another high schooler, Carol Lewis.^[2] She was inspired to compete in multi-disciplinary track & field events after seeing a 1975 made-for-TV movie about Babe Didrikson Zaharias. Interestingly, Didrikson, the trackster, basketball player, and pro golfer, was chosen the "Greatest Female Athlete of the First Half of the 20th Century. Fifteen years later, "Sports Illustrated for Women" magazine voted Joyner-Kersee the greatest female athlete of "all time".

UCLA[link]

Joyner-Kersee attended college at the University of California at Los Angeles, where she starred in both track & field and in women's basketball from 1980-1985. She was a starter in her forward position for each of her first three seasons (1980–81, 81-82, and 82-83) as well as in her senior (fifth) year, 1984-1985. She had red-shirted during the 1983-1984 academic year to concentrate on the heptathlon for the 1984 Summer Olympics.

She scored 1,167 points during her collegiate career, which places her 19th all time for the Bruins games.^[3] The Bruins advanced to the West Regional semi-finals of the 1985 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament before losing to eventual runner-up Georgia.^[3]

She was honored on 21 February 1998 as one of the 15 greatest players in UCLA women's basketball.^[4] In April 2001, Joyner-Kersee was voted the "Top Woman Collegiate Athlete of the Past 25 Years." The vote was conducted among the 976 NCAA member schools.^[5]

Competition[link]

1984 Summer Olympics[link]

Joyner-Kersee competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and won the silver medal in the heptathlon.

1986 Goodwill Games[link]

Joyner-Kersee was the first woman to score over 7,000 points in a heptathlon event (during the 1986 Goodwill Games). In 1986, she received the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States.

1988 Summer Olympics[link]

In the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea, Joyner-Kersee earned gold medals in both the heptathlon and the long jump. At the 1988 Games in Seoul, she set the still-standing heptathlon world record of 7,291 points. The silver and bronze medalists were Sabine John and Anke Vater-Behmer, both of whom were representing East Germany. Five days later, Joyner won her second gold medal, leaping to an Olympic record of 7.40 m (24 ft 3 in) in the long jump.

1991 World Championships Tokyo[link]

She was everyone's favorite to retain both her World titles earned four years earlier in Rome. However her challenge was dramatically halted when, having won the long jump easily with a 7.32 m (24 ft 0 in) jump no one would beat, she slipped on the take off board and careened head first into the pit, luckily avoiding serious injury. She did, however, strain a hamstring, which led to her having to pull out of the heptathlon during the 200 m at the end of the first day.

1992 Summer Olympics[link]

In the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, Joyner-Kersee earned her second Olympic gold medal in the heptathlon. She also won the bronze medal in the long jump which was won by her friend Heike Drechsler of Germany.

1996 Summer Olympics[link]

At the Olympic Trials, Joyner-Kersee sustained an injury to her right hamstring. When the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia began, Joyner-Kersee was not fully recovered by the time the heptathlon started. After running the first event, the 100 m hurdles, the pain was unbearable and she withdrew. She was able to recover well enough to compete in the long jump and qualify for the final, but was in sixth place in the final with one jump remaining. Her final jump of 7.00 m (23 ft 0 in) was long enough for her to win the bronze medal. The Atlanta Olympics would be the last Olympics of Joyner-Kersee's long competitive career.

Professional Basketball Career[link]

In 1996 she signed on to play pro basketball for the Richmond Rage of the fledgling American Basketball League. Although she was very popular with the fans, she was less successful on the court. She appeared in only 17 games, and scored no more than four points in any game.

1998 Goodwill Games[link]

Returning to track, Joyner-Kersee won the heptathlon again at the 1998 Goodwill Games, scoring 6,502 points.

2000 Olympic Trials[link]

Joyner-Kersee made her final bow in track & field competition in 2000. She was sixth in the long jump (21-10.75) at the Olympic Trials.

Awards and honors[link]

• 1986 Jesse Owens Award ^[6]
• 1987 Jesse Owens Award ^[6]
• 2010 NCAA Silver Anniversary Awards honoree.
• 2011 Dick Enberg Award, College Sports Information Director of America (CoSIDA)

Current world records[link]

As of May 2012^[update], Joyner-Kersee holds the world record in heptathlon along with the top six all time best results whilst her long jump record of 7.49 m is second on the long jump all time list. In addition to heptathlon and long jump, she was a world class athlete in 100 m hurdles and 200 meters being as of June 2006^[update] in top 60 all time in those events.

Sports Illustrated voted her the greatest female athlete of the 20th century.

Joyner-Kersee consistently has maintained that she has competed throughout her career without performance-enhancing drugs.^[7][8]

Personal bests[link]

Personal bests 

• 100 metres hurdles : 12.61 s
• Long jump : 7.49 m
• High jump : 1.93 m
• 200 m : 22.30 s
• Shot put : 16.84 m
• Javelin throw : 50.12 m
• 800 m : 2 min 8.51 s

Personal life[link]

Jackie's brother is the Olympic champion triple jumper Al Joyner, who was married to another Olympic track champion, the late Florence Griffith-Joyner. Jackie married her track coach, Bob Kersee, in 1986.

In 1988, Joyner-Kersee established the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation, which provides youth, adults, and families with athletic lessons and the resources to improve their quality of life with special attention directed to East St. Louis, Illinois. In 2007, Jackie Joyner-Kersee along with Andre Agassi, Muhammad Ali, Lance Armstrong, Warrick Dunn, Mia Hamm, Jeff Gordon, Tony Hawk, Andrea Jaeger, Mario Lemieux, Alonzo Mourning, and Cal Ripken, Jr. founded Athletes for Hope, a charitable organization, which helps professional athletes get involved in charitable causes and inspires millions of non-athletes to volunteer and support the community.^[9]

References[link]

External links[link]

• IAAF profile for Jackie Joyner-Kersee

Sports Reference

• USA Track and Field bio
• Jackie Joyner-Kersee's U.S. Olympic Team bio
• The Jackie Joyner Kersee Foundation, founded by Jackie and her husband.

Records
Preceded by Heike Drechsler	Women's Long Jump World Record Holder equalled the 7.45 mark by Heike Drechsler August 13, 1987 — June 11, 1988	Succeeded by Galina Chistyakova
Preceded by Sabine John	Women's Heptathlon World Record Holder July 7, 1986 –	Succeeded by Incumbent
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Marita Koch	Women's Track & Field Athlete of the Year 1986 – 1987	Succeeded by Florence Griffith-Joyner
Preceded by Martina Navratilova	Flo Hyman Memorial Award 1988	Succeeded by Evelyn Ashford
Preceded by Wang Junxia	Women's Track & Field Athlete of the Year 1994	Succeeded by Sonia O'Sullivan
Sporting positions
Preceded by Sabine John	Women's Heptathlon Best Year Performance 1984 — 1988	Succeeded by Larisa Nikitina
Preceded by Larisa Nikitina	Women's Heptathlon Best Year Performance 1990 — 1993	Succeeded by Heike Drechsler
Preceded by Heike Drechsler	Women's Long Jump Best Year Performance 1987	Succeeded by Galina Chistyakova
Preceded by Heike Drechsler	Women's Long Jump Best Year Performance 1994	Succeeded by Heike Drechsler
Preceded by Heike Drechsler	Women's Long Jump Best Year Performance 1996	Succeeded by Lyudmila Galkina

Bryan Clay

Personal information
Full name	Bryan Ezra Tsumoru Clay
Born	(1980-01-03) January 3, 1980 (age 32) Austin, Texas, United States
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight	180 pounds (82 kg)
Medal record Men's athletics Competitor for the  United States Olympic Games Gold 2008 Beijing Decathlon Silver 2004 Athens Decathlon World Championships Gold 2005 Helsinki Decathlon World Indoor Championships Gold 2008 Valencia Heptathlon Gold 2010 Doha Heptathlon Silver 2006 Moscow Heptathlon Silver 2004 Budapest Heptathlon

Bryan Ezra Tsumoru Clay (born January 3, 1980) is an American decathlete. He is the reigning Olympic champion for the decathlon and was also World champion in 2005.

Biography[link]

Clay was born in Austin, Texas^[1] and raised in Hawaii. He is Afro-Asian. His mother, Michele Ishimoto, was a Japanese immigrant to America. His father, Greg Clay, was African American.^[2] His parents divorced when he was in elementary school and he was raised primarily by his mother.

Clay has a younger brother, Nikolas, who was also a standout athlete on the Azusa Pacific University track team.

He graduated from James B. Castle High School (Kaneohe, Hawaii) in 1998.

Clay is married to Sarah Smith. They have a son, Jacob (b. 2005), and two daughters, Katherine (Kate) (b. 2007) and Elizabeth (Ellie) (b. 2010) .^[3] Clay believes that a balance of mental, physical, and emotional health will help him in athletic competition.^[3] Clay is a devout Christian.^[4]

Clay addressed the 2008 Republican National Convention.

Athletic career[link]

He competed in track and field in high school, during which time he was coached by Dacre Bowen and Martin Hee. He then attended Azusa Pacific University, an Evangelical Christian college near Los Angeles, California, where he competed in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and was coached by Mike Barnett, who still coaches him. Clay still trains at Azusa Pacific University. Clay decided to compete in the decathlon after persuasion from Olympian Chris Huffins.^[1]

Clay won the silver medal at the 2004 Olympics, and finished first at the 2005 World Championships. He was unable to compete in the 2007 World Championships due to injuries.^[5]

Clay won the gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in the decathlon.^[6][7] His victory margin of 240 points in the 2008 Beijing Olympics was the largest since 1972.^[8] The Olympic decathlon champion is referred to as the "World's Greatest Athlete" and prior to the Olympics, Clay was tested by SPARQ to establish his SPARQ Rating across a number of different sports. The test is meant to measure sport-specific athleticism and in the football test Clay recorded a score of 130.40, the highest ever recorded up to that point. By comparison, Reggie Bush scored a 93.38 on the popular test.^[9]

He is one of two Olympians featured on a special edition post-Beijing Olympics Wheaties cereal box; the other was gymnast Nastia Liukin.^[10]

His attempts to regain his World Championships decathlon title were thwarted by a hamstring injury in June 2009. This caused him to drop out of the US trials; thus, he missed the chance to compete at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.^[11] He returned to action in 2010 and won the men's heptathlon at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships. At the start of his outdoor season he won the 2010 Hypo-Meeting, holding off the challenge from Romain Barras.^[12]

Achievements[link]

• 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships - gold medal
• Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Men's decathlon - gold medal
• 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships - gold medal
• 2005 World Championships in Athletics - gold medal
• Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics - Men's decathlon - silver medal
• 2004 World Indoor Championships - silver medal

Personal best[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (August 2008)

Bryan Clay during the 2007 World Athletics Championships in Osaka, Japan.

• Decathlon - 8832

Decathlon events:

• 100 m - 10.35
• 400 m - 47.78
• 110 m hurdles - 13.64
• 1500 m - 4:38.93
• Long jump - 8.06
• High jump - 2.10
• Pole vault - 5.15
• Shot put - 16.27
• Discus throw - 55.87 (world decathlon best)
• Javelin throw - 72.00

Others:

• 60 m - 6.65
• 60 m hurdles - 7.77
• 200 m - 21.34
• 1000 m - 2:49.41
• Heptathlon - 6371

See also[link]

• List of Olympic decathlon medalists

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Clay at TrackField.org
• iPhone App
• Teleconference interview with decathlete world-champion Bryan Clay prior to the 2007 USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships
• Video: APU Life on Film featuring Clay