Recognizing Revolutionaries: Jackie Joyner-Kersee

Winning six Olympic medals over the span of four Olympic games, many call Jackie Joyner-Kersee the greatest female athlete of the 20th century. With her primary events being the long jump and heptathlon, Jackie holds the Heptathlon world record with 7,291 points. This record was set as she claimed her first of three gold medals.

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First introduced as a women’s sport in 1980, heptathlon is a sport that consists of 7 track and fields events. Heptathlon made its debut at the Olympic games in 1984.

In addition to her standout performances at the Olympics, Jackie was a world-class 100m and 200m runner and played basketball at UCLA before continuing her career professionally.

Learn more: 

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/jackie-joyner-kersee-wins-gold-in-heptathlon-again
https://www.biography.com/athlete/jackie-joyner-kersee
Video: Jackie Joyner-Kersee Dominates Women’s Heptathlon For Gold – Seoul 1988 Olympics

About Recognizing Revolutionaries: 

Iconica has set out to change the industry, one revolution at a time. Join us each week as we look back in history to recognize people, places, and moments that have made a revolutionary impact in our world.