Jackie Joyner-Kersee praises Sha'Carri Richardson's on-track performance
Jackie Joyner-Kersee is excited about the new generation of women athletes, especially American sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson.
"Sha'Carri brings a whole new energy," Joyner-Kersee said in a recent interview with Olympics.com. She thinks Richardson reminds her most of her late sister-in-law, the legendary Florence Joyner-Griffith.
"You know exactly what Sha'Carri is about and who you're dealing with," Joyner-Kersee added. "She shows off her personality with her style and performance. It's incredible to see her add such flair."
Joyner-Kersee believes these young athletes are taking the sport to new heights and getting the recognition they deserve.
Richardson will compete in the women's 100m final at the Paris 2024 Olympics, aiming to become the first American woman to win this event since Gail Devers in 1996.
When asked about her prediction for the gold medal, Joyner-Kersee said, "I have to support our world champion." She hopes Richardson will win and isn’t going to bet against her since she’s the reigning world champion.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee said, "Sha'Carri is always a threat to win it all."
Jackie Joyner-Kersee remembers noticing Sha'Carri Richardson back in 2019 when she set an NCAA record in the 100m while running for Louisiana State University. Joyner-Kersee knew then that Richardson was going to be a major competitor.
Even though Richardson's journey has had ups and downs, Joyner-Kersee thinks her unique personality and performance have really helped the sport and set her up well for a chance at Olympic gold in Paris 2024.
Joyner-Kersee pointed out how Richardson’s win at the World Championships last August showed her focus and determination, especially since she won from lane 9, which is considered a tough spot.
"Winning despite the doubts showed how focused and driven she is," Joyner-Kersee said. "She and her coach, Dennis Mitchell, managed to get it right at the right time. Sha'Carri has always had the talent and will always be a serious contender to win it all."
Now known as Jackie Joyner-Kersee after marrying her coach Bob Kersee,[21] she entered the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea and earned gold medals in both the heptathlon and the long jump. At the Games, 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-Kersee won her second gold medal, leaping to an Olympic record of 7.40 m (24 ft 31⁄4 in) in the long jump.[20] She was the first American woman to earn a gold medal in long jump as well as the first American woman to earn a gold medal in heptathlon.
At the Games she faced unfounded allegations of drug use by the men's 800m 1984 Olympic gold medalist and 1988 Olympic silver medalist Joaquim Cruz.[22] This continued the following season in 1989 when Darrell Robinson accused her husband and coach, Bobby Kersee, of distributing performance-enhancing drugs.[23] Years later, doping insider Victor Conte asserted that in 1988 he personally witnessed an Olympic official at the Seoul games notifying Bobby Kersee that Joyner-Kersee had tested positive for PED use.[24]
Joyner-Kersee 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 1⁄4 in) jump no one would beat, she slipped on the take-off board and careened headfirst into the pit, 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.
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.[20]
At the Olympic Trials, Joyner-Kersee sustained an injury to her right hamstring. When the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta 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.[8][25] 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 (22 ft 111⁄2 in) was long enough for her to win the bronze medal.[20] The Atlanta Olympics was the last Olympics of Joyner-Kersee's long competitive career.
In 1996 Joyner-Kersee 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 15 points in any game.[8]
Returning to track, Joyner-Kersee won the heptathlon at the 1998 Goodwill Games, scoring 6,502 points.[8]
Two years after retiring, Joyner-Kersee tried to qualify for the long jump event at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. She placed sixth at 21–10 ¾.[8][26]
- 1983 Broderick Award (now Honda Sports Award)[27][14]
- 1985 Broderick Award (now Honda Sports Award)[27][14]
- 1986 James E. Sullivan Award
- 1986 Jesse Owens Award[28]
- 1987 Jesse Owens Award[28]
- 1988 Missouri Athletic Club Jack Buck Awards:[29] Sports Personality of the Year Award and Carl O. Bauer Award
- 1992 George Thomas "Mickey" Leland Award from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation
- World Athletics Awards
- World Athlete of the Year (Women)：1994[30]
- 1997 Jack Kelly Fair Play Award[31]
- 2000 St. Louis Walk of Fame inductee[32]
- 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[33]
- 2010 NCAA Silver Anniversary Awards honoree
- 2011 Dick Enberg Award, College Sports Information Director of America (CoSIDA)
- 2021 Webster University Doctor of Humane Letters[34]
Since 1981, the Jesse Owens Award is given by USATF (and before its renaming, TAC) the United States' track and field "athlete of the year". In 1996, the award was split to be given to the top athlete of each gender. In 2013, the Female award was renamed the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Award.
To date, 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 in top 60 all time in those events.
Sports Illustrated voted her the greatest female athlete of the 20th century.
Joyner-Kersee has consistently maintained that she has competed throughout her career without performance-enhancing drugs
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